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A HISTORY OF 

MEDIEVAL AND MODERN 

EUROPE 

For Secondary Schools 

BY 

WILLIAM STEARNS DAVIS 

Professor of History in the University of Minnesota 
ASSISTED BY 

NORMAN SHAW McKENDRICK 

Instructor in History in Phillips Exeter Academy 




HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 



n 



1\ \ 03 



COPYRIGHT, 19X4, BY WILLIAM STEARNS DAVIS 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

First Printing, May IQ14 



M -2 1914 



fclje JUutrafoe &xti* 

CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
U . S . A 



©CU374292 



PREFACE 

The main purpose of this book is to tell the story of the 
building of Europe, in a way useful for students in the secon- 
dary schools, or, in other words, to answer the question how 
the European nations, especially the prime units in civiliza- 
tion, — England, France, Germany, and Italy, — came to be 
what they are to-day. There has been an earnest effort not to 
take too much for granted in the way of previous information, 
not to overload the student with facts and names of which so 
little can be told that they cannot " body-out " in his imagina- 
tion, and not to cover any but the essential features of the main 
subjects. 

While our story must for completeness go back to the fall 
of the Roman Empire, common sense dictates that for most 
students the mediaeval era is of relatively less importance than 
the last four centuries. The amount of space allotted to given 
events is, therefore, increasingly ample as recent times are 
approached : thus, there is a much longer discussion of Napoleon 
than of Charlemagne. On the other hand, it has seemed needful 
to keep the treatment of even the modern period within fair 
limits, especially by adhering closely to the study of Europe 
only. Thus there is merely an allusion to many of the events 
which created the British Empire, and the student will have 
to go elsewhere to learn how France acquired a great dominion 
in North Africa, and how Russia was checked by Japan in the 
Far East. This is a misfortune, for such a process as the open- 
ing of China may prove to be a matter of more importance in 
universal history than the whole Thirty Years' War, but the 
limitations on the time of most students and the need of 
adhering to the main thread of what is at best a very long 
narrative, seem to forbid the treatment of many fascinating as 
well as valuable problems, 



i v PREFACE 

In including or excluding an event, a name, or an institution, 
in or from this history, the tests have been usually these, — 
(i) Is this matter really important historically? (2) If so, can 
it be stated clearly, and so as to appeal to the imagination and 
understanding of an immature student in a relatively short 
number of words? For example, the institutions of the Anglo- 
Saxons have high significance for advanced scholars in English 
history, but such details cannot be made to have any real 
meaning for young students unless explained at very consider- 
able length; and rather than have a mass of dry and probably 
meaningless statements cast into the learner's teeth, the 
whole subject has been almost ignored. On the other hand, the 
French wars of Edward III have been traced with clear details, 
because a very few statements about Crecy and Poitiers will 
make those names assume a real meaning in the mind of any 
red-blooded student, and make the Hundred Years' War seem 
a vital period of history. For this reason, too, more has some- 
times been said about men than about institutions. " Parlia- 
ment " is an abstraction that probably means little to many 
high-school students: John Pym, righting the battle for human 
liberty in the name of the vindication of Parliament, can be- 
come a very genuine figure, indeed. 

In this process of inclusion and exclusion the author has been 
obliged in every sentence to exercise his own personal judg- 9 
ment. Literally thousands of more or less important facts and 
names have been omitted. The excuse has to be that the length 
of a textbook of this kind is strictly limited by the many de- 
mands of the modern curriculum upon a student's time and 
energy, and that this history, therefore, if it is not to fall into 
the capital error of being a dry-as-dust compendium, must re- 
sign any pretension of putting a full quart into a pint pot. 

If in the end of the study the reader has gained some con- 
sciousness of the " increasing purpose," which has led the 
nations onward, from Roman degeneracy and Germanic dark- 



PREFACE v 

ness, through the long twilight into the present brightness of 
promise; if he has come to recognize how the brotherhood 
of civilized men owes its enlightenment and hope not to the 
deeds of one age or nation only, but to a long, painful, often 
agonizing process of building, stretching across the centuries; 
if, in short, he has learned that " history is the continuous record 
of human achievement," and that the man of to-day is infi- 
nitely the debtor to the man of yesterday, — this little history 
will have fulfilled its modest purpose. 

In preparing this textbook the collaborating author, Mr. 
McKendrick, has revised the entire manuscript with helpful 
scrutiny, suggesting many improvements of every kind. He 
has also been the originating author of all the questions, 
analyses, bibliographies, maps, tables, etc., which will prob- 
ably be considered among the most important features of the 
work. Indeed, the preparation of the volume as a working 
textbook would have been quite impossible without his always 
friendly and faithful cooperation. 

Professor J. S. Shotwell, of Columbia University, has given 
the entire volume the benefit of a searching criticism from the 
standpoint of up-to-date, advanced scholarship, and has 
added many practical suggestions of very pronounced value. 
Mr. M. T. Sadler, formerly of Oxford University, has performed 
a like kindly and extremely helpful service. Last, but not least, 
mention must be made of the publishers of this book. It was 
at their suggestion that the work was originally undertaken, and 
through the long process of its development they have never 
failed with patient supervision, with fertile and stimulating 
suggestion, and with a painstaking attention to all the excellent 
mechanical details which it is believed this book will be found 
to possess. 

WILLIAM STEARNS DAVIS. 
University of Minnesota, 
Minneapolis, May, 1914. 



CONTENTS 



Suggestions to Teachers xiv 

I. The Dying Empire and the Forest Peoples .... i 

i. The greatness of the Roman Empire. 2. Why the Empire was 
declining. 3. The German tribes beyond the Rhine and the Danube. 

II. The Germans in the Old Empire 10 

4. The Huns drive the Germans southward. 5. The sack of Rome by 
the Visigoths. 6. The Germanic kingdoms within the falling empire. 

7. Theodoric the Ostrogoth and the later Germanic kingdoms. 

III. The Christian Church in the Early Middle Ages 18 

8. The Christian Church survives the Empire. 9. The secular Gov- 
ernments make use of the Church. 10. The organization of the 
Church, n. The rise of the Papacy. 12. The rise of monasticism. 

IV. The Mohammedans and the Eastern Empire ... 29 

13. The Arabians before Mohammed. 14. The career of Mohammed. 
15. The doctrines of Islam. 16. The conquests of the Arabians. 
17. The Eastern Empire repulses the Saracens. 18. The later 
caliphate. 19. The wonderful city of Constantinople. 

V. The Monarchy oe the Franks 39 

20. Clovis and the Merovingian Franks. 21. The evil successors of 
Clovis. 22. The "Mayors of the Palace." 23. The battle of Tours. 

24. Pepin the Short. 

VI. Charlemagne and his Age . 49 

25. Charlemagne's personality and power. 26. Charlemagne's 
Saxon wars. 27. The downfall of the Lombards. 28. Charlemagne's 
other wars. 29. The coronation of Charlemagne. 30. Charlemagne 
the civilizer. 

VII. The Terrible Ninth Century and the Rise of 

Feudalism 61 

31. Why Charlemagne's empire dissolved. 32. The growth of new 
national units. 33. The feudal system. 



viii CONTENTS 

VIII. The Holy Roman Empire in Germany and Italy 

(to 1056) 71 

34. The origins of the Kingdom of Germany. 35. Henry the Fowler. 
36. Otto I — his power in Germany. 37. Otto I — his revival of the 
Holy Roman Empire. 38. The successors of Otto I. 39. Henry III, 
the Pope-maker. 

IX. The Rise of the French Kingdom 82 

40. The founding of the Capetian monarchy. 41. The mediaeval 
Kingdom of France — its weakness. 42. The first phases of the 
monarchy. 43. Philip Augustus, maker of France. 44. St. Louis 
confirms the French monarchy. 

X. The Crusades 93 

45. Origin of the crusades. 46. The preaching at Clermont. 47. The 
leaders of the First Crusade. 48. The crusaders reach the East. 
49. The sieges of Antioch. 50. The taking of Jerusalem. 51. The 
Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem. 52. The later crusades. 53. The 
results of the crusades. 

XL The Origins of the English Nation 108 

54. The sea as a factor in English history. 55. The coming of the 
Saxons. 56. The Saxon kingdoms: the christianizing of England. 
57. The Northmen and Alfred. 58. Cnut and Edward the Confessor. 
59. William the Conqueror. 60. The successors of William. 61. The 
Great Charter (Magna Charta). 62. The thirteenth century in 
England. 63. The origins of the "common law" and of trial by jury. 

XII. Life in the Feudal Ages 127 

64. The feudal castle. 65. Life in the castle. 66. The relations of 
suzerain and vassal. 67. Feudal wars. 68. The general wretchedness 
of feudal life. 69. Life in the Church. 70. The intellectual life of the 
Middle Ages. 71. The Gothic cathedrals. 

XIII. The Rise of the Non-Noble Classes 141 

72. The evil state of the peasants. 73. The slow rise of the agricul- 
tural classes. 74. The rise of the free towns. 75. The aspect of a 
xnediaeval city. 76. The cities of Flanders. 77. Venice and Florence. 

78. The revival of commerce and industry. 

XIV. The Popes, the Emperors, and the Medieval 

Church 153 

79. "The freedom of the Church." 80. Hildebrand: as monk and 
as Pope-maker. 81. Henry IV and his bad rule in Germany. 82. The 
humiliation at Canossa. 83. The end of the investiture contest. 



CONTENTS ix 

84. St. Bernard of Clairvaux. 85. Frederick I (Barbarossa) . 
86. Innocent III, arbiter over kings. 87. Frederick II, the "wonder 
of the world." 88. The triumph of the Church. 89. St. Francis and 
his friars. 

XV. The Hundred Years' War jfrs 

90. The causes and contestants. 91. The Crecy campaign. 92. 
Poitiers and the Treaty of Bretigny. 93. Charles V and the first 
expulsion of the English. 94. The second coming of the English: 
Agincourt. 95. Jeanne d'Arc. 96. The end of the war. 

XVI. The Later Middle Ages in England 181 

97. Edward I and Scotland. 98. Robert Bruce and Bannockburn. 
99. Wiclif and Richard II. 100. The rising of the peasants and the 
rule of the House of Lancaster. 101. The Wars of the Roses. 
102. The bad King Richard III. 103. Henry VII, restorer of law and 
order. 104. England at the end of the Middle Ages. 105. The 
English in Ireland. 

XVII. The Popes, the Schism, and the Councils . . .195 

106. The downfall of Boniface VIII. 107. The "Babylonish Cap- 
tivity" at Avignon. 108. The Great Schism. 109. The councils. 
John Hus. no. The final era of the mediaeval Papacy. 

XVIII. The Renaissance . 204 

hi. The mediaeval universities and schoolmen. 112. The new 
conditions in Italy. 113. The epoch-makers — Dante, Petrarch, and 
Boccaccio. 114. The "new learning." 115. The revival of "the joy 
of living." 116. The new art. 117. The new inventions. 118. The 
Northern Renaissance. 

XIX. The World at the End or the Middle Ages . .216 

119. The state of France. 120. The "German" Empire. 121. The 
coming of Spain. 122. The coming of the Turks. 123. The military 
revolution caused by gunpowder. 124. The expansion of the world 
by foreign discoveries. 125. General unrest of the times. 

XX. The Protestant Revolt in Germany and Switzer- 

land 229 

126. The state of the Church in the sixteenth century. 127. The 
early career of Martin Luther. 128. Tetzel, and Luther's Theses. 
129. The hearing before Cajetanus. 130. The disputation at Leipzig. 
131. Luther at Worms and the Wartburg. 132. The spread of the 
revolt in Germany. 133. The religious peace at Augsburg. 134. 
Zwingli and Calvin in Switzerland. 135. The Council of Trent and 
the Catholic reaction. 



x CONTENTS 

XXL The Religious Revolt in England 242 

136. Henry VIII — his character and policy. 137. The divorce of 
Catherine of Aragon. 138. The break with Rome. 139. The spread 
of Protestantism. 140. Edward VI — The Protestants control 
the Government. 141. Mary Tudor and the Catholic reaction. 

142. The economic troubles of the age. 

XXII. The Age of Philip of Spain and Elizabeth of 

England 255 

143. Philip II of Spain — his power and his character. 144. How 
Elizabeth began her reign. 145. Mary Stuart blunders in Scotland. 
146. William the Silent and the revolt of the Netherlands. 147. The 
execution of Mary Stuart. 148. The Spanish Armada. 149. The 
Huguenots in France and Henry of Navarre. 150. Conclusion of 
the epoch. 

XXIII. The Early Stuarts in England 274 

151. James I, the "wise fool" of England. 152. The Gunpowder 
Plot. 153. The Spanish marriage. 154. James and his Parliaments. 
155. Charles I and the Duke of Buckingham. 156. Charles's quarrels 
with his Parliaments. 157. The arbitrary rule of Charles. 158. The 
revolt of the Scots. 

XXIV. The Great Civil War in England and the Rule 

of Cromwell 285 

159. The Scots and the " Short Parliament." 160. The "Long Parlia- 
ment." 161. The trial and death of Strafford. 162. The attack on 
the five members. 163. The "Great Civil War" and the rise of 
Cromwell. 164. The triumph of the army and the death of the king. 
165. The Commonwealth and the " Rump " Parliament. 166. Crom- 
well, Lord Protector of England. 167. The return of the Stuarts: 
what the Civil War accomplished. 

XXV. The Thirty Years' War in Germany 299 

168. Origin of the great struggle. 169. The revolt of Bohemia against 
Austria. 170. The appearance of Wallenstein. 171. The Edict of 
Restitution. 172. Gustavus Adolphus in Germany. 173. The fall 
of Wallenstein. 174. The French period of the war. 175. The Peace 
of Westphalia. 

XXVI. Louis XIV, Dominator of Europe 310 

176. The greatness of France in 166 1. 177. Louis XIV — his abso- 
lute government and his court. 178. The persecution of the Hugue- 
nots. 179. The wars of Louis XIV. 180. The siege of Vienna by the 
Turks. 181. The War of the Spanish Succession. 182. The effect of 
the example of Louis XIV : his end. 



CONTENTS xi 

XXVII. The Later Stuarts in England and their Over- 

throw 322 

183. Charles II, "The Merry Monarch." 184. The persecution of 
the Puritans and the Catholics. 185. James II — his character and 
aims. 186. The first years of James. 187. The case of the seven 
bishops. 188. "The Great Revolution": the overthrow of James. 
189. William III and Mary. 190. The reign of Anne: the end of the 
revolutionary period in England. 

XXVIII. The Growth of Russia and Prussia . . . .335 

191. Early Russia. 192. Peter the Great. 193. Peter the Great and 
Charles XII of Sweden. 194. The Electorate of Brandenburg. 
195. The Great Elector, Frederick William. 196. Brandenburg 
becomes the Kingdom of Prussia. 197. Frederick William I. 

XXIX. The Eighteenth Century 348 

198. The character of the age. 199. Louis XV and Madame de 
Pompadour. 200. Maria Theresa of Austria. 201. Frederick the 
Great. 202. The wars of Frederick the Great. 203. Joseph II of 
Austria, the crowned idealist. 204. The division of Poland. 205. 
Louis XVI and the last years of the Old Regime in France. 206. The 
"Balance of Power in Europe." 

XXX. England under the Georges ........ 361 

207. The general tendencies of the age. 208. The four Georges. 
209. The growth of English industry and commerce. 210. The naval 
supremacy of England. 211. The winning of India. 212. The English 
colonial empire. 213. The rise of the cabinet system. 214. The great 
parties and the great ministers. 215. England at the end of the 
Georgian age : the case of Ireland. 

XXXI. The Causes of the French Revolution . . . 378 

216. The general expectancy of Europe in the eighteenth century. 

217. Why the revolution started in France. 218. The French mon- 
archy, despotism tempered by inefficiency. 219. The privileged and 
idle nobility. 220. The bourgeoisie of the towns. 221. The helpless 
and discontented peasantry. 222. The unequal and absurd system 
of taxation. 223. A worldly and unbelieving clergy. 224. Voltaire 
and Rousseau. 225. The prime factors in the French Revolution. 

XXXII. The French Revolution ........... 391 

226. The summoning of the States General. 227. The meeting of the 
States General. 228. The tennis-court oath. 229. The fall of the 
Bastille. 230. Paris captures the monarchy. 231. The new' constitu- 
tion. 232. The flight to Varennes. 233. The new legislature. 



xii CONTENTS 

234. The outbreak of war. 235. The downfall of French royalty. 
236, The Convention and the massacres. 237. The death of the king. 
238. The war with all Europe. 239. The Committee of Public Safety 
and the Terror. 240. The revolts against the Jacobins. 241. The 
fall of Dan ton and the dictatorship of Robespierre. 242. The down- 
fall of Robespierre. 243. The "Third" Constitution and the whiff of 
grapeshot. 

XXXIII. How Napoleon Bonaparte overturned the Old 

Europe 420 

244. The youth and early career of Napoleon. 245. The "First 
Italian Campaign." 246. The Treaty of Campo Formio. 247. The 
naval power of England. 248. The Egyptian expedition. 249. Napo- 
leon First Consul. 250. The end of the Holy Roman Empire. 251. 
Napoleon, Emperor of the French. 252. Trafalgar and Austerlitz. 

253. The humiliation of Prussia. 

XXXIV. The Downfall of Napoleon 438 

254. Napoleon at the height of his power. 255. The Continental 
Blockade. 256. The resistance of Spain and Austria. 257. The 
regeneration of Prussia. 258. The Moscow campaign. 259. The 
great uprising against Napoleon. 260. The "Battle of the Nations": 
Leipzig. 261. The first abdication. 262. Waterloo and St. Helena. 

263. Napoleon's character and place in history. 

XXXV. The Reaction in Europe: the Domination of 

Metternich 454 

264. The Congress of Vienna. 265. The Holy Alliance. 266. The 
Greek and the Belgian revolts. 267. France under the Bourbons. 
268. The Revolution of 1830. 269. The situation in Germany. 
270. The situation in Italy. 271. Louis Philippe's rule in France. 

XXXVI. The Revolutions of 1848, and the Second 

Empire 466 

272. The downfall of Louis Philippe. 273. The Second French 
Republic. 274. The revolution in Germany. 275. The revolution in 
Austria-Hungary. 276. The revolution in Italy. 277. The Assembly 
in Paris. 278. Louis Napoleon, President of France. 279. The Coup 
d'Etat. 280. The Second Empire: Napoleon III. 

XXXVII. How Cavour made Italy 480 

281. Italy after 1848. 282. Cavour's policy in Sardinia. 283. The 
intervention of Napoleon III. 284. The making of the Italian King- 
dom. 285. The conquest of Naples. 286. The winning of Venetia. 
287. The winning of Rome. 



CONTENTS xlii 

XXXVIII. How Bismarck made Germany 491 

288. After the 1848 Revolution in Germany. 289. The coming of 
, Bismarck. 290. The Danish War. 291. The Austro-Prussian War. 
292. The founding of the North German Confederation. 293. Bis- 
marck and Napoleon III. 294. The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian 
War. 295. The Franco-Prussian War. 296. The German Empire. 

XXXIX. Nineteenth-Century England 507 

297. The Problem of 1830: the "Unreformed Parliament." 298. The 
Great Reform Act. 299. The era of liberal reforms. 300. Queen 
Victoria. 301. The repeal of the Corn Laws. 302. The Indian, or 
Sepoy, Mutiny. 303. The Second Reform Act, and Gladstone. 
304. Disraeli and Imperialism. 305. The return of Gladstone: the 
Home Rule Question. 306. The British colonial empire. 307. The 
death of Queen Victoria. 

XL. The Most Recent Age in Europe 524 

308. France since (1871) the Third Republic. 309. Germany after the 
unification. 310. The new Italy. 311. The Austro-Hungarian 
Empire. 312. The Triple Alliance and its enemies. 313. The twenti- 
eth century in Great Britain. 314. The evolution of Russia. 315. The 
crumbling of Turkey. 316. The Balkan War. 317. The Hague Peace 
Tribunal. 

XLI. The March of Democracy 550 

318. The recovery of Democracy after the French Revolution. 

319. The example of the United States. 320. The industrial revolu- 
tion. 321. The new means of communication. 322. The new con- 
sciousness of nationality. 323. The spread of education. 324. The 
Free Press. 325. The new military system. 326. The enormous 
expenses of modern governments. 327. Socialism. 328. A summary 
and retrospect. 

Appendix 

I. A list of dates of significant events in European history . . i 
II. A list of the books from which assignments for "Reading" 

are drawn ii 

III. Select list of books on European history IV 

List op Maps xi 

List op Portraits and Illustrations . xii 

Index xv 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 

These suggestions, and the "helps" provided in the body of the book, 
are for the many teachers of history in our secondary schools who are 
endeavoring to do justice to the subject without having had special 
preparation for teaching it. It is realized that experienced teachers of 
history will probably make use of the book in their own ways, with little 
regard to the aids with which the book is equipped. 

Under the heading "Review," a set of questions is provided at the end 
of each chapter which will thoroughly test the pupil's knowledge of the 
material presented in the chapter, and which will call constantly upon 
him to examine causes and results and their relations, as well as require 
him to make frequent comparisons in all possible ways. Question number 
one in each instance gives opportunity for a rapid drill upon the signifi- 
cant names and phrases found in the chapter. 

The second question emphasizes the importance of map-work in the 
study of European history. All the map-work called for should be done. 
The maps in the book have been made especially to illustrate the text. With 
a very few unimportant exceptions, all the places and regions mentioned 
in the text are located on the accompanying maps, and the important 
territorial changes are shown with sufficient fullness. Except in a few 
instances, the maps show only the places referred to in the text ; thus the 
useless "padding" of maps, so often found in textbooks, is avoided. The 
maps, however, cannot supplant an atlas: the pupils should have access 
to a good one. It is probable that greater benefit will be derived by using 
various kinds of outline maps than by confining the use to those made by 
one publishing-house only. 

Under the heading "Exercises," a set of questions is further provided 
which is based upon the material found in the list of "Readings." Where 
time permits, the use of these questions will be found to be of great value, 
for every pupil should extend his study of history beyond the covers of 
a single book. It is not expected that each pupil will attempt to find 
answers for all the questions. In making the list of books to be used in 
connection with the "Exercises," regard was had to the need of keeping 
the cost within reach of all schools. The books can be obtained at a con- 
siderable reduction below the list price, possibly for a sum of twelve or 
fifteen dollars, if some of the books marked with a star are omitted. Many 
teachers will wish to substitute for the list in the Appendix (pp. ii-iv), 
other books which seem to them more desirable. The only claim made 
for the list of books chosen is that it makes a very usable and well- 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 



xv 



rounded working library, the cost of which is moderate enough for any 
school to meet. 

Most students of history will agree, probably, that the habit of "brows- 
ing," i.e., reading casually, is an excellent one to cultivate. To help in the 
development of this habit and to give practice in the use of the table of 
contents and index, the questions in the "Exercises" are left without 
direct references to the particular page or pages upon which the answers 
may be found. In the search for the answers, the attention of the pupils 
must often be arrested by incidents aside from the particular matter in 
hand. 

In the study of European history, one of the most difficult things to 
impress upon the minds of the pupils is the fact that the events described 
in one chapter did not necessarily happen before the events described in 
the following, or some subsequent, chapter, just because the first chapter 
precedes the others in the text. The following, chart has been found, by 
actual experience, a very efficient means of overcoming this difficulty. It 
is recommended that only the events which are described in the text, or 
referred to in the "Exercises," be used in making the chart. 

In the "List of Important Dates" (Appendix, p. i), brief statements 
are made concerning the significance of each event. The pupils should be 
asked to explain the statements, to enlarge upon them, to find illustra- 
tions of them, and to make similar lists of other important dates. A bare 
list of dates, without some such use made of it, has little value. 

PLAN FOR A CHRONOLOGICAL CHART 



England 


France 


Holy Roman 
Empire 


The 
Papacy 


Spain 


Russia, Scandinavian and Balkan States 




Germany 


Italy 








Names 
perors 
be writ 
across 


of Em- 
should 
ten 
this line . 






• 



Suggestions : — The Chart may be made by the pupils during the year ; or, as an 
aid to review at the end of the year. In each column should be entered the names 
and dates of the rulers, and the names and dates of the important events in each reign. 
Contemporary rulers and events should occupy, as far as possible, the same horizon- 
tal lines. Some events, e.g., the battle of Bouvines, should appear in several columns, 
since they concern several nations. Individual columns for Russia and the Scandi- 
navian and Balkan States, etc., may be made at the discretion of the teacher. The 
Chart may be made upon one or two large sheets of paper, or may be divided into a 
number of sheets, taking the events period by period, or century by century. 



A HISTORY OF MEDI/EVAL 
AND MODERN EUROPE 

CHAPTER I 

THE DYING EMPIRE AND THE FOREST PEOPLES 

i. The greatness of the Roman Empire. In the fourth cen- 
tury of the Christian era the Roman Empire embraced almost 
every land then civilized. All the country now bordering 
upon the Mediterranean was subject to it, and also Britain 
(modern England) . The intelligence and wisdom not merely of 
ancient Italy, the home land of the conquering Romans, but of 
old Greece and older Egypt and Syria had been absorbed by 
the men of the Empire. A traveler from the Euphrates River to 
Londinium (London) would not as to-day have had to pass 
through half a score of different countries with varying lan- 
guages, laws, customs, religions, often sorely hostile one to an- 
other; he would have been moving continuously within a single 
vast empire, all under one firm government, with the same law, 
the same general manner of religion, the same general social 
conventionalities. The same money passed current every- 
where. If he had had to transact any official business he could 
always have dispatched it in Latin, though in the Eastern 
Provinces the more usual language was Greek ; and in various 
rural districts the old local dialects were still in use. The only 
books he would have read would have been either in Latin or 
in Greek. He would have found a vast commerce passing over 
a magnificent road system. On the great frontier rivers, the 
Euphrates (where the Empire fronted the Kingdom of Per- 
sia), the Danube, and the Rhine (whence the Romans looked 



2 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

out against the German tribes), he would have discovered 
highly disciplined armies ready to cast themselves upon any 
invader. 

At short intervals in his travel he would have entered stately 
cities with magnificent palaces, theaters, forums (public 
squares), triumphal arches, and especially amphitheaters 
where the multitude sought the gladiatorial games wherein 
they so delighted. Everywhere there was a profusion of splen- 
did sculptures, statues, bas-reliefs, and paintings. Life in these 
cities was highly cultured: there were numerous literary men, 
and scholars were held in high esteem. Some of these cities 
were of notable size: besides Rome, 1 which was undoubtedly 
an exceedingly large city even from a modern standpoint, 
there were Carthage in North Africa, Alexandria in Egypt, 
Antioch in Syria, and especially the new capital, Constanti- 
nople (founded in 330 a.d. by the Emperor Constantine as a 
counterpoise to old Rome), which rivaled the " Queen of the 
Tiber," in magnitude and splendor. In the open country 
were great landed estates, where the fortunate owners lived in 
their villas amid refined ease and luxury. 

By about 375 a.d. the religion of this huge empire was nom- 
inally Christian. The days of the martyrs were over: Con- 
stantine (died 337), the first Christian Emperor, had begun 
the official discouragement of paganism, and since his day — 
despite some reactions — the old heathen religion had steadily 
declined. In a few generations more it was to be almost dead, 
and " Rome " and " Christianity " were to become practically 
synonyms. 

2. Why the Empire was declining. And yet this stately, 
almost universal empire was declining, and was doomed to a 
slow, lingering, but certain death. Among the causes of this 

1 The safest guess as to the population of Imperial Rome seems to put it at 
over 1,000,000; possibly up to 1,500,000. The student must remember that until 
decidedly modern times reliable census figures are lacking. 



THE DYING EMPIRE AND THE FOREST PEOPLES 3 

"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," — which consti- 
tutes some of the most significant chapters of history, — are 
these : — 

(a) The government of the Empire was that of a despotism. 
Once the Roman Emperors had tried to veil their power under 
a decent show of maintaining some kinds of popular liberties, 
but now the Caesars were for all substantial purposes as abso- 
lute autocrats as if they had called themselves " Shahs " or 
" Sultans." 1 The sole thing they really dreaded was the mu- 
tiny of the army. The Empire was suffering from the numbing 
effects of an absolute monarchy, one of the most destructive 
things possible to private ambition and effort. 

(b) Along with this despotism went a grasping and grinding 
system of taxation. To pay for the expensive court and the 
increasing demands of the army it was necessary to tax the 
subjects of the Roman Empire as few people have been taxed. 
This taxation swept off all the surplus wealth, and left the 
multitude hopeless, discontented, and often starved. 

(c) The army was ceasing to protect the frontiers properly. 
The long years of peace had given the men of the Empire a 
distaste for the military life. Most of the soldiers were recruits 
from the German tribes. These troops were brave but unreli- 
able. By their mutinies they raised and destroyed emperors. 
The bonds of discipline were becoming relaxed. Very soon this 
demoralized army would cease to be able to hold back the 
invaders. 

(d) As a canker at the heart of the Empire was the evil of 
slavery. A great proportion of the people were still slaves, 
although the spirit of Christianity was opposed to the slave 
system. Slavery was brutal to its victims : but its effect on the 
masters was still worse. It taught them to be pitiless and 

1 At this period the Empire had been divided, usually, into a western and an 
eastern portion, each with its own emperor. But the Empire was always in theory 
one, and the two sovereigns were expected to work in harmony. 



4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

tyrannical and to despise all forms of toilsome labor as fit only 
for bondsmen. No great country ever contained such a pro- 
portion of dishonest idlers as the later Roman Empire. For 
this evil, slavery was largely responsible. The men of the 
fourth century had hardly an idea of the dignity of labor. 

(e) Along with slavery, as its disastrous counterpart, went 
the great disproportion in the distribution of wealth. Most of 
the landed property was in the hands of a relatively small num- 
ber of immensely wealthy magnates of the " Senatorial Class." 
The masses were either the actual slaves toiling on the mag- 
nate's estates, or coloni, — a kind of serfs, with some nominal 
rights, but whose actual condition was not a great deal better 
than that of the slaves. When the Empire stood in sore peril, 
these down-trodden millions would not feel a great deal of 
interest in preserving a system in which their rights were so 
little considered. In their last fights for existence the Caesars 
could not appeal to the patriotism of their people as can a 
modern government in a great crisis. 

(/) Besides these evils, we meet the fact that the old Graeco- 
Roman civilization had almost spent itself. Its philosophers 
and poets had spoken their last word. Its sculptors could not 
surpass their former creations. Literature had ceased to be 
creative. Art was becoming florid and over-elaborate. There 
was still much refinement and learning in the old world, but 
also much artificiality and absolutely no originality. 

(g) The spirit of Christianity had come too late to save a 
civilization already condemned. There were many noble indi- 
vidual Christians, but too many men accepted the new religion 
with their lips, while they continued pagan and selfish in their 
hearts. To teach the nations the true Gospel of Love was to be 
the work of long ages. 

3. The German tribes beyond the Rhine and the Danube. 
Beyond the northern frontiers of this great but decadent em- 
pire lay a swarm of barbarous peoples commonly called by 



THE DYING EMPIRE AND THE FOREST PEOPLES 5 



the general name of the Germans. The Franks, Alemanni, 
and Saxons were some of the tribes nearest the Rhine, while 
north of the Danube lay particularly the powerful Gothic 
nations, divided into the Ostrogoths (East Goths) and the 
Visigoths (West Goths). 

These Germans were decidedly inferior to the men of the 
Empire in most of the essentials of civilization, but they were far 
from being absolute savages. In the vast forests, the swamp 
lands, or the plains of their northern homes they were slowly 
developing some- 
thing like settled 
agricultural life, 
although hunting 
and grazing still 
furnished their 
chief means of 
subsistence. They 
were a tall, blond, 
blue - eyed race, 
— "Northern Gi- 
ants " the weak- 
er races of the 
Empire anxiously 
called them ; and in battle only the superior discipline of the 
Roman armies had flung back the rushes of their sword pha- 
lanxes and of their terrible battle-axes. War, both with the 
Romans and with their fellow Germans of neighboring tribes, 
was the only real pursuit enjoyed by " men of spirit." The 
hunting of bears and wild boars would suffice to employ a 
northern chief during the intervals of " inglorious peace." Most 
of the real toil of life, outside of fighting or the chase, fell on 
the women. The villages of low wattled huts were separated 
by wide intervals of forest land. There were no roads through 
the woodland; only forest trails. Life in a German hamlet 




ROMANS DESTROYING A VILLAGE OF THE 
GERMANS 

{Relief from the Column of Marcus Aurelius at Rome.) Ob- 
serve the circular huts constructed of wickerwork, without 
windows and having but a single narrow door 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



doubtless seemed brutal and sordid enough to any unlucky 
Roman who came as an explorer or a prisoner. 
f Nevertheless among these rude peoples were distinct evi- 
dences of better things. Manly purity and female honor were 
better observed than in the gay but sinful cities of the Empire. 
There were slaves : but they were neither very numerous, nor 
treated (according to German standards) with great severity. 
At a carousal in his village the German warrior would drink 
himself immoderately drunk, but on the campaign he might 
exhibit all the sober virtues. Germans as a rule kept their oaths : 
and they were remarkably faithful to any chief they had sworn 
to follow. Indeed, the loyalty a comitatus 
(band of picked fighting men) had for its 
war chief was probably far greater than the 
loyalty its members bore toward the com- 
mon tribe. For a band to come back from 
the battle where its chief had fallen un- 
avenged, was a disgrace almost impossible 
to wipe away. The whole company would 
sooner perish. 

The political organization of the Ger- 
mans was loose and primitive. In times 
of peace each little village community gov- 
erned itself, or rather, the elders among the 
nobles managed its simple affairs. In times 
of threatened war, there would be assem- 
blies of deputies from the villages, perhaps 
in some forest glade under a "sacred oak," 
to consider the weal of the common folk and 
to plan the campaign. Some tribes had no 
permanent " king," and only elected a spe- 
cial leader for each war: but usually each tribe had its own 
" king," who, however, exercised little power save while on the 
warpath, when he would be obeyed with reasonable diligence. 




A GERMAN WAR 

CHIEF 
(Restored. From the 
Musee d'Artillerie at 

Paris) 



THE DYING EMPIRE AND THE FOREST PEOPLES 7 



There seems to be evidence that by the fourth century the 
Germans were becoming more civilized. They were learning 
the arts of peace from the Romans and developing intern- 
ally. Their governments were becoming firmer: their kings 
had greater authority. Missionaries (especially the famous 
Goth, Ulfilas) had re- 
cently converted most * . 
of them to a manner 
of Christianity, 1 al- 
though probably the 
crude worship of the 
old nature deities (e.g., 
Donar, the Storm and 
Thunder God) still 
lingered on in many 
villages, and in some 
entire tribes. They 
were becoming more 
content with the lands 
which they possessed, 
and a little less intent 
upon roving. Yet re- 
peatedly their bands had collided with the Romans. In the third 
century many German hordes had penetrated into the Empire, 
and had been destroyed with the greatest difficulty. In the 
fourth century the legions seemed to be preventing any actual 
armed invasion ; but tens of thousands of Germans themselves 
were enlisted in the legions, while many more were entering the 
Empire as peaceful settlers. The Germans cheerfully recog- 
nized the Romans as superior to themselves in everything but 
war, and the glitter and splendor of Rome fascinated and lured 
them southward. Late in the fourth century came events 




DWELLING-HOUSE IN A TOWN OF THE FIFTH 
CENTURY 

(Restored. After Gamier and A mmann, Eistoire de I'ha- 
bitation humaine.) Note that the building is largely com- 
posed of fragments of earlier monuments and structures 



1 To Arianism, a kind of Unitarianism, which involved the acceptance of 
Jesus Christ as a "God-Man," but denied his actual divinity. 



8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

which broke the barriers on the Danube and the Rhine, and 
let them into the Empire. 



GENERAL NOTE ON ORDEALS 

The Germans had one custom which was not merely a curious 
usage of barbarous peoples, but which they took with them into the 
Roman Empire and worked into the legal practices of the early 
Middle Ages in many parts of Europe. This was the method of set- 
tling many lawsuits not by a verdict after hearing the evidence, but 
by an ordeal, a solemn question put to Heaven, which was supposed 
to answer — according to the result of the ordeal — as to the guilt 
or innocence of the accused. 

Ordeals might take two general forms: among a certain class of 
German warriors, and between mediaeval noblemen who imitated 
their example, the favorite method w T as the wager by battle. In 
this the two litigants, after due precautions to secure fair play, 
literally " fought it out" with proper weapons, until one of them 
was slain, or — if spared — the defeated man "confessed himself 
recreant," that is, owned his guilt or retracted his charges. 

The second form was more directly a query addressed to God. In 
the "Ordeal by Boiling Water" the accused was obliged to take a 
stone out of a deep boiling hot caldron. The condition of the ac- 
cused's hand after the trial determined his fate. Or there might be a 
"Fire Ordeal" — e.g., the accused might be obliged to walk nine 
feet blindfolded over red-hot ploughshares. If he were badly 
burned, clearly he was guilty. Would not Heaven protect the 
innocent? There were a good many other possible tests. One much 
in vogue after the Germans became Christians was the "Ordeal of 
the Morsel," — when, after a priest had solemnly consecrated the 
bread in the sacrament, the accused partook of the holy element, 
calling on God to strike him dead if he swore falsely to his innocence. 

Owing to the simple faith and the belligerent spirit of the early 
Middle Ages it was long before these usages were replaced by more 
rational forms of trial. In fact some dead traces thereof lingered in 
the law-books down to modern times. A person accused of murder 
in England demanded trial by wager of battle as late as 1818, but 
the court promptly disallowed his demand, and the formal right 
was soon legally abolished. 



THE DYING EMPIRE AND THE FOREST PEOPLES 9 

REVIEW 

1. Explain briefly, or state concisely the important facts connected with 
the following names or topics — Coloni — Comitatus — Ulfilas — 
Arianism — Constantine — Ordeals. 

2. Compare the map facing page 1 with the front linings, and locate on 
a blank map of Europe the modern nations within the boundaries of 
the Roman Empire. 

3. In what ways was the Roman Empire "great"? 

4. Make a list of the causes of the decline of the Empire. 

5. Compare the Germans with the Romans as to their respective elements 
of strength and weakness. 

EXERCISES 

1. For what were Carthage, Alexandria, and Antioch noted? 

2. Do any of the conditions marking the decline of the Empire exist in the 
United States at present? For what conditions are there no parallels 
here? 

READINGS 

Sources. Ogg: Chapter 1. Robinson: vol. 1, no. 8. 

Modern Accounts. Emerton: Introduction: pp. 1-26. Seignobos: pp. 
3-1 1, 16-18. Bemont and Monod: pp. 1-36. 

1 For this and all the subsequent chapters the questions marked "Review" 
are based upon the text of the book, and are intended to bring out from various 
angles the facts and inferences which ought to be gathered from a careful study 
of each chapter. In the geographical questions, to be studied always with due 
use of the maps, important localities which are mentioned for the first time are 
given. It is assumed that places which have been prominent in earlier chapters 
are already familiar. 

The questions marked "Exercises" are of the "seek-further" variety. They 
cannot be answered properly from the text, and must be studied by reference to 
some or all of the books mentioned under "Readings." A large part of the value 
of the work should come from the frequent use of these "Exercises," teaching 
the student to pass beyond the bare statements of the text, to clothe the facts of 
history with enough detail to give them real life, and to train the student in that 
use of judgment and inference from conflicting evidence which is one of the most 
valuable gains from historical study. — See " Suggestions to Teachers " (pp. 
xiv-xv) for more complete directions. 



CHAPTER II 

THE GERMANS IN THE OLD EMPIRE 

4. The Huns drive the Germans southward. Far away in 
the heart of Asia lay barbarous tribes of warrior nomads, com- 
monly called the Huns - 1 They were as far below the Germans 
in civilization as the latter were below the Romans: this, how- 
ever, did not prevent them from being almost invincible in 
battle. About 350 a.d. their hordes were rolling westward 
seeking new fields of conquest. Meeting the Germanic Goths 
in what is to-day southern Russia, they enslaved the Ostro- 




GERMANIC SWORD (in sheath) 

goths, and drove the whole people of the Visigoths before them 
in a panic toward the Danube, where lay the Roman barrier 
forts and the protecting legions (375). At the bank of the 
great river the Visigoths begged Valens, the Emperor of the 
Eastern Provinces, to admit them to his dominions, promising 
faithful service against his enemies, and especially against the 
Huns who were pressing at their heels. In an evil hour Valens 
consented. The whole Visigothic folk — men, women, and 
children — were ferried across, avowedly to settle quietly in 
the Roman provinces. But almost immediately disputes arose 
with the imperial officials: and alleging unjust treatment the 
Visigoths soon took up arms against those who had harbored 

1 The best short formula wherewith to describe the Huns is to rename them 
"Tartars." They were certainly very like the least civilized of the bands that 
still traverse the steppes of Mongolia and Turkestan, although our information 
about many of their traits is scanty. 



THE GERMANS IN THE OLD EMPIRE n 

them. Valens called out a large part of the whole imperial 
army. At Adrianople (378) he staked everything on a great 
battle. He lost his army and his life. The victors wandered 
ravaging through the Balkan peninsula. The spell of Roman 
invincibility was broken. Valens 's successor in the East, 
Theodosius, made a new treaty, indeed, with the Goths and 
induced them to remain peaceably for some years near the 
Danube. They actually aided him to conquer the western 
provinces, and he became Emperor of the whole Roman world: 
but in 395 he died. To one feeble son, Arcadius, he gave the 
East; to another, Honorius, the West. The Empire was divided, 
never to be united again. The ministers of these purple-clad 
youths were for the most part inefficient and corrupt. 1 The 
opportunity of the Germans was come. 

5. The sack of Rome by the Visigoths. In 400, Alaric, King 
of the Visigoths, with his valorous people, set forth from 
Illyricum 2 to invade Italy. Their first attempt ended, how- 
ever, at the great battle of Pollen tia (402) , when for about the 
last time the old legions won a notable victory. Alaric 
returned to Illyricum and slowly recruited his swordsmen. 

In 408, he again invaded Italy. No effective army now barred 
his path. With a kind of awe and trembling, but with bold 
daring and resolve in their hearts, the Visigoths pressed on. 
The tale runs that Alaric believed a divine voice was saying 
to him, " Thou shalt reach the City! " and he knew that " the 
City " was august Rome, " Mother of Empire,' ' which no 
victorious foe had approached for many centuries. He block- 
aded the great capital, and presently hunger pinched the vast 
multitude within the gates. "Give me all your gold, all your 
silver, all your movable property, and all your barbarian 

1 Stilicho, the prime minister of Honorius, was a brave and capable warrior, 
and until he was murdered (408) the Goths made no great headway. It is worth 
noticing, however, that Stilicho was descended from a chief of the Vandals, one 
of the German tribes. 

2 Modern Servia, Bosnia, and Croatia. 



12 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

slaves — then I will raise the siege," — so he told a deputation 
of trembling senators. " What, then, will you leave us? " 
"Your lives," was the grim" answer. However, the invaders 
presently agreed upon a more reasonable ransom. But two 
years later, Alaric returned (410), and this time Rome did not 
escape. Terror spread through the world as men told one 
another with bated breath how the "Eternal City " had been 
sacked by the Gothic barbarians, even as Roman armies, in 
days now past, had sacked a score of capitals. If Rome could 
be violated, what hope for any lesser city? The very end to 
civilized life seemed come! 

The Visigoths did not long remain in Italy. Alaric himself 
soon succumbed to the hot, unfamiliar southern climate. Even 
in her weakness the majesty of Rome and the superiority of her 
civilization impressed itself upon the invaders. Said Athaulf, 
Alaric 's successor, " My first wish was to destroy the Roman 
Empire, [but now] I choose the glory of renewing and main- 
taining by Gothic strength the fame of Rome, desiring to go 
down to posterity as the preserver of that Roman power which 
it is beyond my power to replace." 

The Visigoths presently made a kind of treaty with the 
feeble Western Emperor by which they were permitted to 
occupy Spain and Southern Gaul: and here they established 
a permanent dominion, their king lording it over his own folk 
and also over the Romanized provincials, who as a rule found 
their new Gothic lords more just and less exacting than the 
former imperial officials. This Gothic kingdom in Spain lasted 
till 711. 

6. The Germanic kingdoms within the falling Empire. 
Alaric had shown the way for many another Germanic war 
chief to enter the Empire. To make the last stand in Italy 
against the Visigoths, the Roman Government had been 
obliged to recall the legions guarding the Rhine and the dis- 
tant province of Britain. Over the undefended frontiers soon 



THE GERMANS IN THE OLD EMPIRE 



13 




DECORATIVE METAL-WORK 

{In the Cabinet des Medaittes at the Bib- 
liotheque Nationale, Paris) 



poured one barbarian tribe after another — all seeking the 
lands and booty which the helpless provinces seemed so able 
to supply. The fifth century witnessed the utter rending of the 
Western Roman Empire. Cen- 
turies of peace had made the 
provincials forget the use of arms 
and trust for all protection to the 
professional army, and now this 
army was practically no more. 
Sometimes the barbarians came 
in a comparatively inoffensive 
manner; respected the Romans' 
private rights and superior cul- 
ture; contented themselves with 
merely a fair share of the pro- 
ducts of the soil and reasonable 

taxes. Sometimes the reverse was the case; the invasions 
meant blood, sack, slavery — the ruin, in short, of all the arts 
of peace, of all civilized life. At best the fifth century was a 
time when men of intelligent instincts must have believed the 
real progress of the world turned backward, all the accumu- 
lated refinements and learning of the past centuries almost 
hopelessly lost. 

To trace the progress of these invasions in a few words is 
difficult, indeed. One can only name and locate the principal 
Germanic kingdoms which spring into view after the period 
of wandering and warfare is somewhat over. Besides the 
Visigoths in Spain and South Gaul, the Vandals l (a very 
untamed and oppressive folk) seized northern Africa and spread 
their piratical naval power over the Mediterranean. In east 
central Gaul settled the Burgundians, in North Gaul the Franks 
(of whom more hereafter) . 

For a little while the old Roman Government held on in 

1 From them, of course, comes the term "vandalism." 




i 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Italy and in part of Gaul. It had still strength enough to join 
forces with the Visigoths, and when Attila, the terrible leader 
of the Hunnish hordes, led his destroying horsemen into Gaul, 
Roman and German united against him and defeated him in 
the famous battle of Chalons (45 i), 1 saving western Europe 
from a second devastation infinitely more terrible than the 
first. 

This was the last gleam of success, however. In 476, Odoacer 
(a German of the Herul tribe), commander of the Imperial 

Guard, deposed Romulus Au- 
gustulus, the last of the weak- 
ling Western Emperors. A 
barbarian himself, he dared 
not take the imperial title. 
By a transparent fiction he 
Germanic hunting-horn called himself Patrician of 

Italy," and pretended to rule 
the land as deputy for the Emperor at Constantinople. None 
the less the Roman Empire of the West was ended. 

7. Theodoric the Ostrogoth and the later Germanic king- 
doms. Odoacer did not rule long. Another branch of the Goths 
came on the scene: the Ostrogoths, under a remarkable king 
— Theodoric. 2 Armed with a kind of commission from the 
Eastern Emperor, Theodoric led his people into Italy, over- 
threw Odoacer's army, and slew its leader. From 493 to 526, 
Theodoric reigned in Italy, treating the Roman population 
with singular tactfulness, respecting their laws, rebuilding the 
ancient monuments, fostering commerce, literature, and all the 

1 Attila's power was not broken by this battle. Next year he was strong 
enough to invade Italy, but in 453 he died, and the hordes that had obeyed him 
soon drifted into civil war, in which the Hunnish nation practically destroyed 
itself. 

2 Theodoric as a boy had been a hostage at Constantinople, and probably 
had imbibed there many ideas as to Graeco-Roman civilization and law and 
order. The Ostrogoths had been vassals to the Huns. After the fall of Attila's 
power, they had invaded the Balkan Peninsula. 



1 6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

fair things of peace. His successors, however, were less happy 
in dealing with their subjects, and in the sixth century it 
bechanced that at Constantinople there was reigning over the 
eastern part of the old realm of Augustus a great Emperor — 
Justinian (527-65). 

In the eastern part of the Empire many elements of the 
original Roman power had survived. 1 Justinian was now able 
to send out reorganized and formidable armies to recover a 
part of the lost western provinces. Before this attack the 
Vandals of northern Africa succumbed ; likewise the Ostrogoths 
of Italy: their very races were almost blotted out in the wars, 
and their ephemeral kingdoms became again parts of the 
Roman Empire, ruled now, however, by the Caesars, not of 
Rome, but of Constantinople. 

This imperial restoration, nevertheless, did not last long in 
Italy. About 568 the Lombards, one of the last of the Germanic 
peoples to quit their northern homes, invaded Italy. They 
could not seize the whole of the peninsula, nor capture Rome: 
part of the country remained long in the possession of the 
Eastern Emperors; but they established their monarchy in 
the north with their capital at Pavia, and for over two centu- 
ries the unhappy peninsula was rent by devastating wars 
between rival governments, neither strong enough to expel the 
other. In this miserable state Italy continued until a new 
power arose beyond the Alps which gave to the troubled west- 
ern world the semblance of order. This was the Frankish 
kingdom. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Valens; Theodosius; Alaric; Stilicho; Attila; Odoacer; 
Theodoric; Justinian. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate, with dates of important events occurring there, these 
places — Adrianople; Chalons; Pavia. 

1 See chapter v, section 19. 



THE GERMANS IN THE OLD EMPIRE 17 

(b) Trace on the map the routes of the migrations. (Emerton, p. 34.) 

(c) Mark the bounds of the Empire under Justinian, indicating his 
re-conquests. 

(d) Mark the German tribes in their permanent locations in the 
Empire. 

3. What happened in 378, in 410, and in 476? 

4. Compare Theodoric with Alaric. 

EXERCISES 

1. Compare the Huns and the Germans in regard to civilization. 

2. Which battle had the greater effect on history, that of Adrianople or 
that of Chalons? 

3. What impression upon the men of that time was made by the sack of 
Rome (410)? 

4. Theodoric and his work. Cassiodorus, his prime minister. 

5. The results of the invasions upon the civilization of the Empire. 

6. Why was Ravenna noted? 

READING 

Sources. Ogg: chapters 11, in. Robinson, nos. 9-16. 
Modem Accounts. Emerton: pp. 26-59. Seignobos: pp. n-15, 46-47. 
Bemont and Monod: pp. 36-64. 



CHAPTER III 

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES 

8. The Christian Church survives the Empire. The Western 
Empire had perished amid blood, confusion, and misery. Many 
of the barbarian kingdoms that had been erected on its ruins 
went down almost as rapidly as they were founded. All human 
virtues save those of the savage warrior seemed in jeopardy 
had not one great factor in the fallen Roman world survived 
the shock: — the Christian religion. 

Most of the Germans had been converted to a kind of Chris- 
tianity ere they started on the invasions, and although their 
" Arian " type of belief was pronounced " heresy " by the ortho- 
dox theologians, they were willing as a rule to respect Chris- 
tian churches, priests, and church properties, although certain 
Arian kings — e.g., the Vandal rulers in North Africa — 
proved severe persecutors of their Catholic l provincial sub- 
jects. In the moil and toil of the invasions the last remnants 
of the old Graeco-Roman heathenism had perished, save in a 
few very obscure districts. The Romanized provincials, 2 torn 
from their former government and political institutions, came 
to rally more loyally than ever around the only one of their 
old organizations still left — their Church. 

g. The secular Governments make use of the Church. On 
the other hand, the barbarian conquerors found the Church 
distinctly useful in their new kingdoms. Although they had 

1 "Catholic" may here be used as denning those Christians who accepted 
the famous "Nicene Creed" (drawn up at Nicaea in 325), affirming the divin- 
ity of Christ, which the Arians rejected. 

2 The Christian Church is said to have taken over a good many matters of 
outward usage from old paganism. Thus various heathen festivals were duly 
given an orthodox significance, and then adopted by Christianity. 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 



19 



destroyed much of the old imperial civil organization, they had 
still to control many millions of provincials, who had customs 
and a legal system which the untutored Germans by no means 
understood. Some experienced administrative officers whom 
the provincials could trust, and whom (by their non-military 
character) the conquerors could control, were necessary. -The 
Christian bishops, already, under the Empire, clothed with 
many secular functions, were exactly such 
officers. The Roman proconsul had vanished, 
but the Christian bishop remained. During 
the early Middle Ages a bishop was almost 
as much a secular as a religious adminis- 
trator. He was usually a high magnate able 
to rank with the greatest nobles among the 
laity. 

As long as the Christian Emperors had 
ruled, they had repeatedly meddled in Church 
affairs, appointing and removing bishops, con- 
vening " councils" (i.e., assemblies of all the 
leading ecclesiastics of the world) for the set- 
tling of Christian faith or conduct, and even 
issuing articles of faith which all good sub- 
jects of the Empire were expected to believe. 
In short when the Church had ceased to be 
persecuted by the Roman Government, that 
Government had captured it for great political ends. The 
better class of churchmen had always deprecated this yoking 
of Church and State. " Better to have the Church poor and 
persecuted, than so swamped by worldliness," complained 
many a great " Father " of the early Middle Ages: but no 
one seemed able to prevent the evil. The Church was exceed- 
ingly wealthy. Rich men, dying with vexed consciences, knew 
no better way to square themselves with Heaven than to 
bequeath great properties to the Church. Pious women would 




A BrSHOP 

Seventh century 
(S. Venanzio, Rome) 



20 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

leave their all to the local bishop for hospitals, poor relief, 
or stately religious edifices. Great provincial lords, Germanic 
chiefs, Roman Emperors, all had gifts to shower. There was 
much noble charity, and much perfectly legitimate use for this 
wealth; but the fact remained that the Church was very rich, 
and that usually the office of bishop carried with it, not 
merely honor and influence, but a great income. In such an 
age it was impossible for these high positions always to fall 
to men of simple piety and zeal. The Roman Emperors had 
shown how useful the Church was to the State if properly 
controlled. The barbarian kings controlled and interfered with 
the Church even more, although they were often pitiless war- 
riors whose conduct was a parody on their Christian profes- 
sions. A large part of the history of the Middle Ages was 
to be the story of how the Church struggled — in the end 
successfully — against this capture of itself by the secular 
Government. 

10. The organization of the Church. Already, before the 
Western Empire fell, the Church had perfected an internal 
organization which it maintained for many centuries, and 
which, in its more striking features, the Roman Catholic 
Church perpetuates to-day. It was held that the whole body 
of Christian believers was divided into two great classes, 
namely, the clergy entrusted with " the cure of souls," and the 
laity whose duty in religious matters was to obey passively the 
directions of their spiritual guides. The clergy itself was 
organized into a well-established hierarchy. The lowest class 
of really effective clergy were the deacons, 1 and above these 
the presbyters (or " elders "), or, as they were frequently 
called, the priests. These were the ordinary working guides of 
a parish, the local church district: but over a group of a rather 
varying number of parishes and with a recognized authority 

1 Before becoming a deacon one had to pass through various "minor orders, 
subdeacon," etc.; but these persons had relatively little importance. 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 21 

over all the lesser clergy, was the episcopus, or bishop. 
The term episcopus meant in Greek simply " overseer": 
and many people have held that in the early Church this 
word and that of presbyter might be applied indifferently to 
any regular working clergyman. But by the fourth century 
it was well recognized that a bishop far outranked any ordin- 
ary parish priest. Ordinarily there was a bishop in every sizable 
city, with a number of lesser clergy under him, and in his 
diocese (area of jurisdiction) would be included all the outlying 
towns and villages of the region. 1 

The bishop was the usual working head of the Church: he 
disciplined his clergy and laity, managed the ample church 
property, enforced the canons (i.e., fundamental laws of the 
Church), and could punish violators of his mandates by 
excommunication, — exclusion from all the rites and consola- 
tions of religion, — a very serious matter in an age when a man 
whom the Church had banned was considered not merely a 
misbeliever, but a kind of semi-criminal. The bishop, too, 
even more than the ordinary clergyman, was a sacrosanct per- 
sonage : consecrated with peculiar solemnities and presumed to 
stand as a special representative of God before men. 

He was not, however, the highest officer in the Church. The 
bishops of the very largest cities claimed a certain superior 
jurisdiction, as archbishops, over their brethren in the smaller 
communities. Such cities were ordinarily the capital cities of 
the old Roman provinces. This assumption of power was often 
resisted, yet the greater influence of the bishops of the leading 
cities was undoubted. Higher, nevertheless, than the arch- 
bishops was the final authority of the council. An assembly 
of all the bishops of all Christendom, meeting commonly at 
the summons of the Emperor, was presumed to be particularly 

1 Generally speaking, in the Eastern countries the tendency was for the 
dioceses to be smaller, and hence the bishops were more numerous and less 
influential, than in the West where their districts were always decidedly large. 



22 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



inspired in its actions by the Holy Ghost. Such a council at 
Nicaea (325) had drawn up the famous Nicene Creed, the* 


















IVORY LID OF A SACRAMENTARY 
Depicting the celebration of mass. The Sacrementary is a book 
relating to all the points of ritual connected with the Roman Catho- 
lic Mass. This particular book dates from the ninth century, (i) 
Preparation for mass; the celebrant sits on his throne. (2) He repeats 
the Confiteor. (3) He gives the kiss of peace. (4) He kisses the 
Book, placed upon the altar. (5) He returns to his throne. (6) He 
returns to the altar. (7) [left] He receives the offering; [right] he 
places the bread on the altar. (8) He repeats the prayers of con- 
secration. (9) He communicates. 

acceptance or rejection of which was the usual test of orthodox 
Christianity. The councils naturally met only on special sum- 
mons at rare intervals. Local synods (meetings of the clergy 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 23 

of a province) would be convened more frequently, but of 
course could deal only with local questions. 

The Church as a whole, notwithstanding many worldly and 
evil-minded bishops, and much political meddling, presented 
an admirable picture of a firm, well-disciplined organization, 
conscious of a lofty mission, and confident and serene at a time 
when all the secular side of civilized existence seemed falling 
away. It seemed to need, however, a center and a leadership 
around which it might rally in its fight to preserve the spiritual 
and ideal side of life during the wreck and ruin of the early 
Middle Ages. It found that leadership at. Rome. 

11. The rise of the Papacy. Men to-day differ as to the 
validity of the right of the Popes of Rome to claim the spiritual 
allegiance of all Christians, but no one denies that those 
claims were considered excellent by most Europeans during 
the Middle Ages. It is easy to state the main reasons why the 
Bishops of Rome came to be considered something more than 
ordinary archbishops; to be regarded, in short, as the especial 
deputies of God set over all Christendom. 

(a) They were in Rome, and Rome, even in her decadence, 
was a large city, with an incalculable prestige. The bishop 
thereof was bound to be a most important personage. 

(b) In the confusion and ruin of the period of barbarian in- 
vasion the Christians of the West, especially their bishops, 
would look to some central authority for advice in matters of 
discipline and faith, and for moral support in their perils. 
No other churchman could compare with the Bishop or Pope 1 
of Rome in the weight of his opinions through the mere im- 
portance of his commanding position. 

(c) While not all the Popes were men of great genius, they 
were usually men of common sense and very decided ability. 

1 The word "pope" is derived from the Greek term papa — "father": in 
this case, of course, the "Holy Father," — later to be singled out above all the 
rest. 



24 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

The Roman Church was usually by them kept out of those 
profitless squabbles about doctrine and dogma which ex- 
hausted the energy of the Eastern churches and brought on 
them the fearful charge of " heresy." The Popes were as a rule 
accounted highly " orthodox," by all Catholic Christians. 

(d) Behind these reasons and reinforcing them was the great 
claim which the Popes made for a divine commission, giving 
them a peculiar supremacy over all other churches. This claim 
(which many millions of Christians accept to-day) is centered 
upon the famous words which Christ spoke to St. Peter, " Thou 
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 1 The advocates of the 
Papacy argued, and a large part of Christendom was willing 
to accept their claim, that this inspired commission to Peter 
was not for himself only, but for all his successors in the 
episcopal office: and according to the general belief of the 
Church, Peter had been the founder of the Christian community 
at Rome, and all Roman Bishops partook of his especial power. 
Besides, the great Apostle Paul was regarded as practically 
another founder of the Roman Church, and the Popes inherited 
his great spiritual authority also. How far in the early Middle 
Ages the Popes had more than an advisory authority over the 
outside churches is a matter over which scholars still argue at 
the present day: but no one denies that by about 600, the Pope 
was undoubtedly the leading churchman of the world. 

A leading champion of papal authority was the famous 
Gregory the Great (Pope, 590-604). In his day, owing to the 
attacks of the Lombards and the feebleness of the Eastern 
Emperors, Rome was practically an independent city-state 
with the Pope as its temporal head. Gregory makes treaties 

1 The rest of the text (Matt, xvi, iS-iq) reads, "And I will give unto thee the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shall hind on earth shall 
be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in 
heaven." Another text often quoted (John XXI, 15-17) is where Jesus said to 
Peter, ''Feed my sheep." 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 25 

with the Lombards almost as if he were a secular prince, and 
conducts defensive warfare. He corresponds with Germanic 
kings, and with great ecclesiastics all over the world: he sends 
out missionaries who reclaim the Anglo-Saxon conquerors of 
Britain to Christianity: he uses his vast influence for the 
appointment of good bishops, and the maintenance of orthodox 
doctrine: he is, in short, the mainspring of the Church. The 
Papacy thus continued in this position of recognized leader- 
ship till the alliance it made with the Frankish Kingdom in the 
eighth century enabled it to go on from strength to strength. 
12. The rise of Monasticism. One other great factor ap- 
pears in early mediaeval Christianity — Monasticism. The 
world was a very dreary place during the centuries of the fall- 
ing Empire. It seemed full of sin and confusion, and abundant 
evidences of God's wrath. How to escape the fires of hell, 
which were very real to men's imaginations, and how to win 
the saint's heaven, were questions that millions wrestled with, 
amid sore trials of spirit. To flee from the world and its ini- 
quities or engrossing pleasures, to try by vigil, prayer, and 
" mortification of the flesh " to conquer evil thoughts and to 
win a sure hope of heaven, — this problem had begun to appeal 
to Christians even before the barbarians first broke into the 
Empire. Early in the fourth century there were many monks l 
in the Egyptian deserts, at first simply isolated hermits living 
on the small oases, sleeping as little as possible, eating a few 
dried dates, and spending their whole time in meditation on 
the mysteries of religion. Such men w T ere regarded as peculiarly 
holy, as possessing an unusual chance of blessedness hereafter. 
They had many imitators, and the example spread from Egypt 
to Syria, and presently to Europe. The life of a mere hermit 
without any human intercourse was, however, found to have 
its drawbacks. If he might have visions of angels, visions of 
devils might attend his solitary vigils also. It was speedily 

1 The word "monk" means in the Greek "one who lives alone." 



2 6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

recognized that the truest peace of mind came to a monk when 
he was with a number of fellow monks in a common " mon- 
astery," living together a well attuned religious life under 
"monastic rule " or system of religious discipline. 1 

It is exceedingly easy for moderns to ridicule the monastic 
life and its ideals, to charge it with selfishly seeking the indi- 
vidual's salvation and of leaving the world at large to perish 
unaided. At the same time, amid the infinite confusion of the 
early Middle Ages, to any refined or sensitive nature the life 
of the average layman must often have seemed very repulsive : 
and even the " secular clergy" 2 were frequently caught in the 
worldly, unspiritual life about them. Probably by the sixth or 
seventh century a very large fraction of what we may call the 
" cultivated minds " of the time was in the monasteries 3 (or 
nunneries for women) as the only true refuge. The outraged, 
the oppressed, the timid, who feared the world and its storms, 
the intellectually minded, all took the " vows of religion " and 
merged their personalities in the life of the multitudinous 
monastic communities. 

The great organizer of Monasticism in the West was St. 
Benedict of Nursia, a noble Italian, who about 526 drew up 
his famous Benedictine Rule, a system of monastic discipline 
which many Catholic institutions follow up to the present day. 
According to his idea, although a monk was to spend many 
hours in prayer and attending the services of the monastery 
church, he was neither to torture himself by undue severities, 
nor starve himself by too spare a diet. However, on entering 
the monastery he ceased to be his own master : he took a vow of 
poverty (no property was to be his own, all was to belong to 

1 Hence the term "regular clergy" — those living under a "rule" (Latin — 
regula). Isolated hermits remained very common in the East. Community life 
was prevalent among the monks of the West. 

2 The priests, bishops, etc., who cared for the ordinary worship of the Church 
and the faith and morals of the laity. 

3 A "convent" is substantially the same thing as a "monastery," although 
it is a name now commonly given to nunneries also. 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 



27 



the community), of chastity, and finally of obedience, — 
obedience implicit and entire to the abbot, 1 the elected head 
of the monkish community. 

Benedict enjoined upon the monks the duty of labor. At 
first this labor was simply the tilling of 
the monastery farm, though even here 
the pride in doing a thing "well unto God" 
would lead the monks to make their agri- 
culture as skillful as possible, no doubt an 
example to all neighboring farmers; but 
presently came the cultivation of other 
arts. A monastery prided itself on the 
beauty of its church and buildings, as 
planned and actually erected by the 
monks themselves unaided. Again, the 
copying of manuscripts and the increasing 
of the common library came to be regard- 
ed as a work especially favored by Heaven; 
and to the patient monkish copyists we 
owe a very large part of all the precious 
Greek and Roman classics handed down 
from antiquity. Finally, in the monastery 
might be a school for the whole countryside, where at least 
the youths intended for the clergy could be taught Latin 
and a few simple sciences, in an age when even a great noble 
among the laity could seldom read or write. A monastery, 
then, was not merely part of a religious system: it was a 
center for the handicrafts, for the arts, and for learning, often 
in a very backward or half-barbarous community. 

Such are some of the leading aspects of the Church of the 
Middle Ages. To criticize its institutions seems for some mod- 




A BENEDICTINE 

{From the Annates de 
I'Ordre de Saint Benoit) 



1 The term "abbot" is from Syriac abba — "father." The chief assistant of 
an abbot was known as the "prior." An abbey was simply a large monastery 



ruled by an abbot. 



28 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

erns exceedingly easy, yet it was really the one thing that saved 
civilization from being blotted out in the barbarian invasions. 
A Germanic king feared a Christian bishop and his appeal to 
the saints and to Heaven, when he feared no Roman Emperor; 
and by the Church the ideals of humanity were upheld in an 
age which had almost forgotten them. 

REVIEW 

i. Topics — Council; Priest; Bishop; Archbishop; Parish; Diocese; 
Canon; Excommunication; Nicene Creed; Synod; Orthodox; Heresy; 
Regular Clergy; Secular Clergy; Abbot; Benedictine Rule. 

2. Geography — Locate Rome; Nicaea; Monte Cassino. 

3. What were the relations of the rulers to the Church (a) before and 

(b) after the German invasion? 

4. Wliat were the sources of the wealth of the Church? 

5. Summarize the reasons for the rise to leadership of the Bishop of Rome. 

6. What were the causes for the rise of monasticism? 

EXERCISES 

1. The work of Gregory the Great. 

2. The work of St. Benedict, and the Benedictine Rule. 

3. The work of the monks as sustainers of civilization. 

READINGS 

Sources. Ogg: chapter vi. Robinson: nos. 5, 6, 7, 18-37. 
Modem accounts. Emerton: pp. 92-113; 135-49. Seignobos: pp. 18-22. 
Bemont and Monod: pp. 15-18; 119-24. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE MOHAMMEDANS AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE 

13. The Arabians before Mohammed. In the seventh cen- 
tury arose the religion which was to prove the dark counter- 
foil to mediaeval Christianity and which was to play a great 
part in the making and ruin of nations — Mohammedanism. 
It originated in the hot peninsula of Arabia, a land of desert, 
oasis, and infrequent strips of arable territory, which had 
hitherto contributed very little to civilization or history. The 
Arabians or Saracens l of the land were split into nomadic 
tribes, living by their herds of sheep or camels, and dwelling 
usually in black haircloth tents, with only here and there a 
permanent city. The tribes were frequently at bloody feud one 
with another: anything like a general government was lacking. 
The general conditions of life were those of the Hebrew patri- 
archs — Abraham and Jacob. 2 The religion of these desert 
dwellers was a crude idolatry, but their old traditions and 
intercourse with the Christians and Jews of Syria had given 
them certain higher religious notions: how besides their 
heathen deities there was one great god (Allah) in the heavens. 
They were a valiant, vigorous race, with many fine mental 
qualities; but their disunion had made them harmless to neigh- 
boring nations. Now a genius was to unite them, imbue them 
with religious fanaticism, and launch them on the conquest of 
a great part of the world. 

14. The career of Mohammed. Mohammed, " the Prophet 
of Islam," was born at Mecca, the largest city of Arabia, about 

1 These names have come to mean practically the same people. 

2 The Arabs were Semites of the same great race as the Jews and had a 
similar language. They claimed to be descended from Ishmael, the son of Abra- 
ham and the half-brother of Isaac. 



3 o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

571. Although at first merely a poor camel-driver, he became 
comparatively rich by a lucky marriage. He was always a 
contemplative, mystically minded individual, and in 611 he 
announced to his friends that he had seen visions: — Allah, 
the high God, had commissioned him to order the Arabs to put 
away their idols, and to adore the one God after the manner of 
the new gospel which Mohammed had been empowered as 
" the last of the Prophets " to deliver. Mohammed to-day 
would probably be regarded as an interesting, harmless 
" crank." Among his unsophisticated countrymen he was 
taken more seriously. Did his inspiration come from God or 
the Devil, was the question, or was he a plain impostor? His 
own tribe at Mecca exiled him in 622, 1 with threats against 
his life. He fled to Medina, the next largest city in Arabia, and 
there had far greater success. Medina adopted his gospel and 
at his summons took up arms against the tribes who refused 
to be converted. Mohammed speedily developed remarkable 
qualities as a general and an organizer, as well as an ability to 
inspire even forced converts with the truth of his mission, and 
to make them its zealous champions. Tribe after tribe went 
over to him. When he died in 632 he was the uncrowned King 
of Arabia, and was preparing to attack both the Roman and 
the Persian Empires. History has long since ceased to dismiss 
Mohammed merely as an impostor whose work was pro- 
moted by Satan. There is much that is noble in his character. 
He doubtless had an honest belief in his own gospel ; and that 
gospel has profoundly affected human history. 

15. The doctrines of Islam. Mohammed's fundamental doc- 
trine was one of great simplicity: "There is no God but God, 
and Mohammed is his prophet." Allah (God) had in the past 

1 This flight to Medina is called the "Hegira" by the Moslems, who use it 
as a starting-point for dating their years. The Mohammedan year is 354 (some- 
times 355) days. The year 1332 a.h. (Anno Hegira) began November 30, 
1913 A.D. 



MOHAMMEDANS AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE 31 

revealed Himself to men by several great prophets whereof 
Jesus was one of the mightiest; but Jesus was not the actual 
son of God, and now Mohammed is sent with a better and final 
revelation. At the "Last Day," when all souls are assembled 
for judgment, all sinful Moslems and the whole mass of un- 
believers (Christians, Jews, pagans, etc.) will be consigned to 
the endless Gehenna, and " there shall they be [forever] amid 
boiling water, in a dense smoke, and they shall drink of the 
scalding water." True Moslems, however, are promised an 
eternal paradise. They shall " recline on couches, adorned with 
gold and precious stones," in delightful gardens: they shall eat 
and drink delicious foods and wines continually without satiety, 
and be attended by ravishingly beautiful maidens, the houris. 
All this, like the woes of Gehenna, shall never end. 

To win this reward no great religious austerities are neces- 
sary. He who prays rive times per day, fasts from sunrise till 
sunset during the sacred month of Ramadan, gives liberal 
alms to the poor, goes once in a normal lifetime on a pilgrim- 
age to the holy city of Mecca, and keeps the leading moral 
precepts in Mohammed's book of revelations, the Koran, 1 
will be sure of eternal happiness. But the surest way to win 
heaven is to fall fighting against the unbeliever: then he who 
dies martyr is translated instantly to paradise. He who em- 
barks on the " holy war " and survives will have the spoils of 
the infidel ; he who perishes secures the greater reward in heaven. 
What a prospect to the booty-loving, courageous, imaginative, 
and withal sensual desert-dwellers! Mohammed's religion unites 
worldly reward with emotional appeal as does no other gospel. 

Islam, 2 then, has certain great temporal advantages over 

1 The Koran is not a connected book. It is a series of disconnected utter- 
ances (suras) of Mohammed, somewhat on the style of the Hebrew psalms. It 
contains much noble poetry, although the imagery is often too forced and 
Oriental to appeal to Western students. 

2 This official name for Mohammed's religion means "Submission to the will 
of Allah." 



32 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

mediaeval Christianity: — there is no intricate theology, no 
hard doctrine of perfection; one need not turn monk to be 
certain to win heaven, but only lead a life of very reasonable 
morality, 1 and execute certain entirely practicable religious 
acts. It is not surprising that a large part of the population of 
the Orient, on whom Christianity had only feeble hold, fell 
away at the first attack by these strange Arabian fanatics. 

16. The conquests of the Arabians (632-732). Mohammed 
left able lieutenants. The caliphs (" Successors of the Prophet ") 
sent forth their hordesmen simultaneously against Persia 
and the East Romans. Those mighty empires had just been 
terribly weakened by a long, exhausting war, and were in no 
condition to resist the unexpected onslaught of the redoubt- 
able desert horsemen. Religious enthusiasm and Semitic pas- 
sion made the Arabians for the while irresistible. " Victory or 
paradise is before you : hell and the Devil are behind you : — 
charge! " a Moslem general is said to have called to his men, as 
he launched them upon superior numbers — and not in vain. 

All Persia was conquered within about ten years. After 
641, that country was prostrate before the caliphs. Syria and 
Egypt were as quickly torn from the Eastern Empire. The early 
caliphs proved themselves men of great skill in organizing their 
new governments, dealing justly with the conquered popula- 
tions 2 and elaborating the simple laws and usages of the 
Arabians to meet the needs of a great empire. After 661, their 
capital was transferred from Mecca to Damascus, and the 
caliphate became a family possession of the Ommiad Dynasty. 
In 750, this dynasty was overthrown by the line of the Abba- 

1 Thus Mohammed very conveniently allowed his followers four wives. The 
Christian precept, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is 
perfect," is not found in the Koran. 

2 Under the temporal advantages offered, practically all the Persians, and a 
large fraction of the Syrian and Egyptian Christians, accepted Islam; but with 
such non-Moslems as submitted cheerfully and paid tribute, the early caliphs 
dealt justly and even liberally. Taxes were probably lighter under their rule 
than under the later Roman regime. 



MOHAMMEDANS AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE 33 



sides, who founded the new capital of Bagdad: the Ommiads 
keeping only the independent government of Spain. But some 
years earlier the Arabian Empire had already reached its limits 
toward Europe. Northern Africa was wrested (about 690) from 
the East Romans; in 711, a Moslem force crossed to Spain and 




_._ Boundaries of East Roman 

and Persian Empires about 622 

[ 1 Mohammedan Conquests 622-632 
' " 632-661 

' «■ 661-750 

Longitude East 



from Greenwich 



THE MOHAMMEDAN LANDS IN THE EAST 

destroyed the kingdom of the Visigoths. How western Europe 
was saved at Tours is told in another place (see chapter v). 

Frankland, however, was not the only European region 
whose life was in sore peril early in the eighth century. Fifteen 
years before the battle of Tours the Moslems had dashed them- 
selves upon the walls of Constantinople. 

17. The Eastern Empire repulses the Saracens (717). To 
Constantinople nearly all the remnants of the old Graeco- 
Roman art, learning, and culture seem to have retreated. 
Western Europe was at this time deep in the semi-barbarism 
into which it had been cast by the Germanic invasions. It 
would require centuries before conditions would be such that 



34 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



it could welcome again and understand the ancient civilization 
which Constantinople could give back. Had the Moslems 
taken the great city in 717, the loss to later civilization might 
have proved incalculable; but fortunately there were still huge 
stores of strength in the Eastern Empire. Many provinces had 

been lost, but the old Greek lands 
and Asia Minor opposed a des- 
perate resistance to the invader. 1 
Christian fanaticism in turn was 
rekindled : — was it not doing God 
and the saints a service to hurl 
back the invading blasphemers? 

The Empire had been sorely 
shaken in the preceding wars, but 
when in 717 a mighty Moslem 
land and naval armament ap- 
peared before Constantinople, 
Islam was doomed to its first 
great repulse. A bold soldier, Leo 
the Isaurian, 2 seized the power 
and conducted a valorous defense 
worthy of the old Roman tradi- 
tions. An unwontedly severe win- 
ter devastated the camp of the 
besiegers, — southern - born as 
they were. A recent invention — 
Greek Fire 3 — enabled Leo to destroy the attacking fleet. 
A pitiful remnant of the great host escaped back to the Caliph- 

1 In the lands which were truly Grecianized or Latinized, the Moslems as a 
rule penetrated only very slowly. It was in the Oriental part of the Empire that 
they found the promptest welcome. 

2 Isauria was a mountainous district in southeastern Asia Minor. 

3 This was a combustible, probably composed of naphtha, sulphur, and pitch. 
It could be poured or hurled upon the enemy, and could not be extinguished 
with water. Until the invention of gunpowder, it was the most destructive agent 
known in war. 




SOLDIERS OF THE IMPERIAL 
GUARD 

Restored. {From a mosaic in the 
Church of St. Vitale at Ravenna, Italy.) 
On one of the shields, note the two first 
letters of the Greek word for Christ: 
XP 



MOHAMMEDANS AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE 35 



ate, to tell the tale of how Allah had refused victory to his 
chosen people. The Eastern Empire was saved. More than 
seven centuries were to pass ere the Moslem standards might 
wave upon the walls of Constantinople, and in the mean time 




[ J Eastern Empire c.7£ 
-"JMohammedan Conquests 622-63J 
" " 632-661 

■■ " 661-750 

Longitude West 0° Longitude East 10° from Greenwich 



THE EAST ROMAN EMPIRE ABOUT 750 A.D. 
The Mohammedan lands in the West 

western Europe was to grow strong enough to advance Chris- 
tian civilization alone. The present age owes an unmeasured 
debt to Leo the Isaurian. 

18. The later Caliphate. This defeat, followed by the disaster 
at Tours (732), dampened the ardor of the Moslems. Their 
first fanaticism had ceased. The original Arab conquerors had 
become a mere fraction of the less vigorous races which had 
now accepted Islam. About 800, the Caliphate of Bagdad under 
Haroun-al-Raschid, was at its height. The caliph was obeyed 
from the Atlantic to the frontier of India. His capital had all 
the gold and glitter, also the tawdriness and filth, of a great and 
typical Oriental city. The Moslems rapidly learned the refine- 
ments and arts of the conquered races. They even developed 
certain sciences, and transmitted their learning to the Western 
world. Much of our knowledge of algebra and chemistry is 



36 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



derived from them: also our ''Arabic numerals.' * Many 
manufacturing processes, — e.g., the making of muslin and of 
paper; and many plants — as lemons, oranges, and the sugar- 
cane and tulip — had an Arabian origin. After 833, however, 
the power of the Bagdad caliphs declined rapidly. Provinces 

revolted : the barbarous 
Turks invaded from the 
North. 2 By 900, the 
Arabians had ceased to 
be formidable to the 
men of the West. 

19. The wonderful 
city of Constantinople. 
The Eastern Empire 
had survived the death - 
grapple with Islam. Leo 
the Isaurian (717-41) 
and the Emperors after 
him reorganized it upon 
a firmer basis. Many 
provinces had been lost, 
but old Asia Minor and 
Greece plus Macedonia 
and Thrace gave a large 
and wealthy realm, with 
inhabitants far more industrious and advanced in the arts of 
peace than any neighbors. The East Roman (or " Byzantine ") 
navy was the strongest on the Mediterranean. The merchant 
ships of Constantinople carried most of the world's commerce. 
The Government of the Empire, although highly despotic, was 

1 Which the Arabians seem in turn to have borrowed from the Hindus. , 

2 The Turks (a race originating in the great plains of Central Asia) are in no 
wise akin to the Arabs. They wore invaders who presently overthrew the caliph- 
ate, although they adopted Islam. They have proved a decidedly inferior race 
to the Arabs in everything, save the deeds of war. 




BYZANTINE PATTERNED SILK 
{From tin- Muste de Cliuiy.) The- center medallion 
represents the games in the Circus 



MOHAMMEDANS AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE 37 

in the main exceedingly energetic and intelligent. A well-dis- 
ciplined professional army held back Moslem invaders from 
Syria and Bulgarian invaders from the North. Down to about 
1050, the Eastern Empire remained the best-governed and 
most highly civilized state in the world, well able to command 
the respect of its neighbors. 

Constantinople was the focus of this great dominion: its 
commerce, the number of its factories (which supplied the world 
with metal goods, fine fabrics, delicate glass, and many other 
wares which other nations had forgotten how to manufacture), 
its magnificent public buildings adorned with statues filched 
from old Athens or Rome, the vast multitudes, drawn from 
many lands, which swarmed its squares or cheered the races in 
the hippodrome, — all these things made men account it the 
wonder of the world. " The city guarded by God " was the 
name its proud citizens gave it. Here alone, if a man of the 
present age were suddenly to return to the ninth century, let 
us say, would be found conditions somewhat similar to modern 
life : — an intelligent government, great public buildings, 
something akin to modern universities, hospitals, etc., and a 
thriving commerce covering the known world. 

Constantinople preserved this lordly position until well after 
the year 1000. Then her rulers became inefficient, new ene- 
mies (the Turks) attacked her, the rising power of Venice 
seized her commerce, and her power declined. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Hegira; Koran; Islam; Caliph; Leo the Isaurian; Haroun- 
al-Raschid ; Greek fire. 

2 . Geography — 

(a) Locate Mecca; Medina; Damascus; Bagdad; Constantinople. 

(b) Mark on the map the regions conquered by the Mohammedans. 

3. What were the principles of the Mohammedan belief? Why were they 
often more attractive to the Oriental people than the principles of 
Christianity? 

4. What were the contributions of the Arabs to civilization? 

5. Describe the civilization of the city of Constantinople at its best. 



38 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

EXERCISES 

i. The work of Justinian. 

2. Write a summary of the events occurring in western Europe during 
the period 571-750. 

3. The East-Roman Empire is known also as the Byzantine and the 
Greek Empire. Why? 

4. Which repulse of the Mohammedans — that at Constantinople, or 
that at Tours — was of greater importance to Europe? 

READING 

Sources. Ogg: chapter vn. Robinson: no. 48. 

Modern Accounts. Emerton: pp. 122-26. Seignobos: pp. 27-38, 39-46. 
Bemont and Monod: pp. 99-114, 135-66, 336-47. 



CHAPTER V 

THE MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS 

20. Clovis (481-511) and the Merovingian Franks. Of all 

the kingdoms founded by the Germanic invaders on the wreck 
of the old Western Roman Empire, only one really survived — 




THE MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS 



the kingdom of the Franks. Bloody and barbarous as the 
early annals of this kingdom seem, they cannot be ignored, for 



4 o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

the Franks were the founders both of modern France and, in a 
less direct sense, of modern Germany. 

In former days the Franks had lain along the eastern bank 
of the Rhine, close neighbors to the Romans. During the storm 
and stress of the fifth century they moved across into the 
northern provinces of Gaul and seized their share of the dying 
Empire; but they differed from other invaders in that they 
never wholly evacuated their homeland beyond the Rhine. 
A large part of their dominions always lay in regions that had 
never submitted to the imperial legions. 

The Franks were probably fiercer and seemingly less tract- 
able to civilization than many other invaders. " From their 
youth up," wrote an anxious Roman, " war is their passion. 
[Against superior numbers] death may overwhelm them, but 
not fear." Their very name is usually derived from their 
favorite weapons, the franciscas, their great battle-axes with 
which they knew equally well how to smite and how to hurl. 
Nevertheless, uncouth as they were, they had elements of 
abiding strength. They were more familiar with the con- 
quered Romans, thanks to long residence as neighbors, than 
certain other Germanic invaders, and, despite their original 
savagery, they amalgamated with them much better. Then 
their first great king, Clovis, became a Christian under condi- 
tions that gained him favor with a most influential body of his 
subjects. 

Clovis was as brutal and cruel a war-lord as has ever defiled 
Germanic annals. Through treachery and blood he won his 
way to the supremacy over both the terrified Romans of North 
Gaul and the rival chieftains of his own nation; but he was 
becoming convinced that his old heathen gods could not help 
him as well in his fighting as the Deity of the Christians, whose 
priests never failed to promise temporal advantage to the 
" true believers." Little enough could Clovis understand of 
theology, but he was probably satisfied that " the white 



THE MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS 41 

Christ " was " good magic " and worth having on his side. 
Clovis's queen, Clothilde, was a Christian and constantly 
urged her religion upon her husband. At last, in 496, Clovis 
was in battle with the rival tribe the Alemanni. The fight was 
against him. His best axe-men were pressed hard. Clearly 
his old gods were of no avail. The king vowed then and there 
he would become a Christian if the Christians' God would give 
victory. The tide was turned. The Alemanni were routed. 
Clovis stood to his vow. He was baptized by St. Remigius, 
Bishop of Rheims, and 3000 of his mighty men with him. 
" Bow down thine head meekly, O Sigambrian," 1 spoke the 
bishop; "adore [the holy things] which thou hast burned: 
burn what thou hast adored." 

Seldom has a religious conversion produced more wide- 
reaching results. Clovis became a Catholic Christian, filled 
with a belligerent zeal for his new faith, while nearly all the 
other Germanic kings were Arian Christians, hated by the 
orthodox clergy as heretics little better than pagans. Clovis 
and his monarchy received the full support and benediction of 
the Catholic Church. Under his vigorous leadership and that 
of his immediate successors, nearly all of present-day France, 
plus a considerable strip along western Germany, became fused 
into the Frankish monarchy. The character of Clovis was the 
vilest. He removed rivals by assassination and waged blood- 
thirsty wars of spoliation, " in order, with God's help, to seize 
the land of the Arians." In all these bloody deeds, in which 
self-seeking was masked by piety, however, the Church 
blessed him in gratitude for his strenuous orthodoxy. 2 

The history of both France and Germany in one sense may 
be reckoned as beginning with his brutally effectual reign. 

1 The name for a branch of the Frankish peoples. 

2 After reciting various bloody and treacherous deeds, a pious chronicler adds: 
"The Lord cast Clovis's enemies under his power day after day, and increased 
his kingdom, because he walked with a right heart before Him, and did that 
which was pleasing in his sight." 



THE MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS 43 

21. The evil successors of Clovis. The Merovingian 
Dynasty (which Clovis raised to power) ruled in Frankland as 
actual or nominal kings for more than two centuries after him. 
There was no strict rule of primogeniture among the Franks. 
Clovis divided his realm among his four sons, and the brothers 
promptly waged bloody war over the apportionment of the 
heritage. For three years (558-61) the kingdom was reunited, 
then fell asunder again with three grandsons of Clovis at each 
other's throats about the division of territory. Finally, in the 
seventh century there was an outward show of union, but by 
this time the energy 6i the Merovingian kings and the loyalty 
of their people had been well-nigh exhausted. The history of 
the time seems a mere chronicle of battle, treachery, and sud- 
den death, with only a few important facts emerging clearly. 

(a) The Franks and the Romans were welded together into 
practically one society. The men of East Frankland (Aus- 
trasia) were more Germanic, those of West Frankland (Neus- 
tria) more Roman; but there was now no sharp division between 
the invaders and the invaded. 

(b) City life was nearly destroyed. The old Roman towns 
were sunken usually to starving hamlets. The free peasants 
were dwindling. The normal type of life was on the great 
landed estates, — the manor house of the lord, and the huts of 
the serfs close at hand. 1 

(c) The arts of civilized life were half -forgotten. The Church 
suffered, indeed, from the evil influences of the age : but in the 
Church was the only intellectual life. There were no schools 
outside the monasteries. Probably almost nobody save priests 
or monks understood the mysteries of reading and writing. 

Then gradually a better day dawned. 

22. The "Mayors of the Palace." The incessant civil wars 
of the Merovingian monarchs had been a great benefit to their 

1 This development of the great manor (villa) had been well under way in 
Roman times. 



44 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



nobles; lands, power, and influence the kings must all grant to 
keep their warriors' aid. By the middle of the seventh century 
the kings were only nominally the first persons in their king- 
dom. The supreme power had been grasped by the " Mayor of 
the Palace," 1 the chief of their royal officers. Practically every 
kingly function was usurped by these great prime minis- 
ters, while the help- 
less " kings " were con- 
fined on some great 
estate, and only pro- 
duced as carefully 
guarded prisoners on 
state occasions. 

Many of these may- 
ors of the palace were 
men of great ability 
and applied their en- 
ergy genuinely to the 
public good. Particu- 
larly, in a happy year 
Charles Martel (714- 
41) came into power. 
Far-sighted, active, 
and capable, he set 
himself to repressing 
the anarchy every- 
where prevalent, 2 and restored something akin to law, order, 
and comparatively civilized life. It was well that he did so. 
In 732, a terrible peril confronted Frankland and all Christ- 
endom, and Charles needed his entire strength. 

23. The Battle of Tours (732). In 711, the disastrous battle 

1 The "Major Domus," as the officers are often styled, after the Latin. 

2 Much effective preliminary work had been done by Charles's father, Pepin 
of Heristal, the mayor of the palace before him, and himself no mean figure in 
Frankish annals. 




CHAIR OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY 
Restored in the twelfth century. (In the Cabinet des 

Me dailies) 



THE MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS 45 

of Xeres delivered Spain into the hands of the Moslem invad- 
ers. The long-decadent Visigothic kingdom vanished in blood 
and smoke. Only in the extreme northwest of the land, close 
to the Atlantic and the stormy Bay of Biscay, a little band of 
Christians turned at bay, and checked the invader. But this 
seemed a mere incident. Spain was now practically a Moham- 
medan land. In 721, the victorious hordes of Islam began 
pressing over the Pyrenees and threatening southern Gaul. 

Odo, the Duke of Aquitaine, had been a disobedient vassal 
of Charles Martel. He strove at first to fling back the 
"Paynims" with his own might, but by 732 he had been so 
beaten that he had no refuge save in the help of his overlord. 
It was a great crisis confronting Christianity. If Charles could 
be overcome, there seemed no reason why at least southern 
Frankland and Italy (where the Lombards were very weak) 
should not become two more provinces for Islam. The Moslem 
leader, Abd-Rahman, sent his light cavalry ravaging and pillag- 
ing almost to the Rhine. 1 Presently near Tours (732), on the 
Loire River, Charles, with the whole levy of northern Frank- 
land, came face to face with these foes of Christian civilization. 
The battering charges of the Moslem horsemen were desperate; 
but " like walls of ice " the Frankish axemen flung them back. 
All day the fight lasted. By nightfall, Abd-Rahman was slain, 
and the Christians were as terrible as ever. Courage had oozed 
out of the Orientals : " Allah had turned against them." In the 
darkness they fled away southward, leaving huge spoils to the 
Christians. 

Never again was Frankland and the west in such mortal 
danger. Possibly it is due to Charles Martel 2 and his sturdy 

1 The invading host probably was made up mostly of Moors. The Arabs had 
found the inhabitants of North Africa very apt converts to Islam: and their 
habits of life and temperament were very like those of the original Mohamme- 
dans. There were many Spanish-Christian renegados also in the Moslem host. 

2 Charles seems to have gained his surname "Martel" ("the Hammer") 
after this terrible pounding of the Moslems. 



46 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Austrasians and Neustrians that Europe and America to-day 
are reading the Bible and not the Koran. 

24. Pepin the Short (741-68). Charles Martel, the un- 
crowned King of Frankland, left his power jointly to his two 
sons, Pepin " the Short " and Karlmann. The latter, however, 
acting in a manner characteristic of the age, soon voluntarily 
resigned his " mayorship " and went to save his soul in a mon- 
astery : but Pepin proved himself a son worthy of his mili- 
tant father. The borders of Frankland were extended. The 
outlying "Dukes " 1 of Bavaria and Aquitaine were reduced to 
obedience. In 752, Pepin was able to disregard the lingering 
remnants of the Merovingian puppet kings, and cause himself 
to be crowned king in their stead. This he did with the consent 
of the most august moral force then in Christendom — the 
Roman Papacy. " It is better," replied the Pope to Pepin's 
inquiring messengers, " that he who has the power in the state 
should be king, rather than he who is falsely called the king." 

The last Merovingian puppets (" Sluggard Kings " the last 
of them were styled) disappeared from history. A new and 
worthier dynasty was on the throne of Frankland. Pepin the 
Short threw his protecting aegis over a great missionary, St. 
Boniface, 2 the " apostle to the Germans." The Gospel was 
preached among the Teutonic peoples in modern Hesse and 
Thuringia. By a skillful mingling of argument and authority, 
the priests of the old heathenism were silenced. Monasteries 
sprang up at Fulda and elsewhere which became notable cen- 
ters for temporal civilization as well as for religion. Only the 
fierce Saxons and Frisians to the north resisted Boniface and 
kept their ancient gods until Pepin's son, the mighty Charle- 

1 The term " duke " (Latin, dux) at this time may be often taken as equivalent 
to a "king writ small": — i.e., a national chieftain, who is not quite able to assert 
his independent authority. 

2 He was an Englishman. It is interesting to notice that thus early (and Boni- 
face in turn had important English and Irish predecessors) the churches of the 
British Isles began to distinguish themselves by missionary activity. 



THE MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS 47 

magne, preached to them with the gospel of the sword. Other- 
wise the work of Christianizing the Germans had been nearly 
accomplished ere Boniface died a martyr's death (755). 

But Pepin did more than sustain Boniface in his activities. 
In 754, Pope Stephen II appeared in Frankland begging mili- 
tary help against the much-hated Lombards who seemed about 
to seize Rome. 1 Pepin could not forget the favor done him in 
the matter of the transfer of the kingship, and the formidable 
Frankish army was put in motion. 

Twice Pepin descended into Italy. The second time he forced 
the Lombard king to admit his overlordship and to surrender 
certain territories in Central Italy which he had seized from 
the feeble viceroy of the Eastern Empire. These lands Pepin 
did not care to administer from a distance. He bestowed them 
as a temporal possession upon " St. Peter," — i.e., upon the 
Pope. From this time forth the Frankish kings were established 
as official protectors of the Papacy, and the Popes were es- 
tablished as regular civil rulers in Italy — both facts pregnant 
with future history. 

In 768, Pepin the Short died after a prosperous reign which 
paved the way for greater events to come. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Clovis; "Arian Christian"; Merovingian; Primogeniture; 
Austrasia; Mayor of the Palace; Charles Martel; Tours (learn its 
date); "Sluggard Kings"; St. Boniface. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Rheims; Tours; Fulda. 

(b) Mark on the map the growth of the Frankish territory under 
Clovis. 

(c) Compare Clo vis's lands with modern France in extent. 

1 The Popes were in sore peril. If the Lombards seized Rome, there would be a 
limit to the independence of action of the Popes, even if the Lombards professed 
to respect them. The Popes had quarreled with their former protectors — the 
Eastern Emperors — on theological matters. Besides, these Eastern rulers were 
too busy fighting the Moslems to send efficient help to Italy to protect their old 
territories against the Lombards. What the Popes desired was a protector, 
powerful, but not too near at hand. Pepin seemed to be such a champion. 



48 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

3. Wherein did the Franks differ from other German tribes? 

4. How does the reason which the Pope gave for consenting to Pepin's 
coronation compare with the idea of the early Germans as to what a 
king should be? 

5. What were the results of Pepin's interference in Italy? 

EXERCISES 

1. The character and deeds of Clovis: of Charles Martel; of Pepin the 
Short. Compare these three men as to their relations with the Church. 

2. Chalons and Tours are classed among the world's most important 
battles. (See Creasy's Fifteen Decisive Battles.) Compare Tours with 
Adrianople and Chalons as to importance. What is meant by a 
"decisive battle"? 

3. W T hy did the Popes desire that their "protector" should not be "too 
near at hand"? 

READING 

Sources. Ogg: chapters iv, vm. Robinson: nos. 17, 43-47, 49-52. 
Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 19, 25-26, 48-52. Emerton: pp. 60-72, 

114-22, 126-34, 150-79. Bemont and Monod: pp. 64-98, 167-79. 

Duruy: pp. 32-73- 



CHAPTER VI 

CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS AGE 

25. Charlemagne 1 s personality and power. In 768, Pepin 
the Short, the great King of the Franks, passed away to make 
room for his greater son, whom the common usage of history 
knows in Latin as Carolus Magnus, or, to use the familiar 
French form, Charlemagne. 1 The new monarch may be con- 
sidered on the whole as the most important personage in 
mediaeval history. His reign marks an epoch between the 
ancient world and the modern, and his masterful personality 
stamped its deep impress upon his own age, and cast its shadow 
over several subsequent centuries. 

An intimate companion 2 has left us a well-rounded pen- 
portrait of this truly remarkable man. We are told that he was 
"large and robust, and of commanding stature and excellent 
proportions. The top of his head was round, his eyes large and 
animated, his nose somewhat long. He had a fine head of gray 
hair, and his face was bright and pleasant; so that whether 
standing or sitting he showed great presence and dignity. His 
walk was firm and the whole carriage of his body was manly. 
His voice was clear, but not so strong as his frame would have 
led one to expect." 

We are told of his simple habits as to dress; his temperance 
in eating and drinking; his delight in riding and hunting, and 
manly sports. "He was ready and fluent in speaking, and able 
to express himself with great clearness. He took pains to learn 
foreign languages, gaining such a mastery of Latin that he 

1 He may very properly be called in English Charles or Karl the Great. 
Down to 771, he shared his power with his brother Karlmann, who then died. 

2 Einhard, who wrote an excellent Life of Charlemagne, — one of the best 
literary productions of the Middle Ages. 



5° 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



could make an address in that tongue as well as in his own; 
while Greek he could understand rather than speak." When 
at table he delighted in music, or in listening to the reading of 
pious books or histories. He was fond of attending the lectures 





v^pSL - 






A BANQUET 
Carolingian period. {Restoration after a tenth century manuscript in the Bibliothcquc 
Nationale) 

on grammar, logic, and astronomy, of the learned men of his 
day. One must not exaggerate the profundity of this royal 
scholar, however. With all his genuine love of letters, he never 
really learned how to write. 

In his temperament Charlemagne had many human infirmi- 
ties; he could be cruel and perpetrate acts of manifest tyranny, 
but considering his age he may be called just, magnanimous, 
and far-sighted. From his father he inherited an effective war- 
power, and none of the neighbors of the Franks could match 
him in arms. He had a high regard for the old Roman civiliza- 
tion as he understood it, and throughout his reign labored 
earnestly and intelligently to increase the knowledge and influ- 
ence the morals of his people. Beginning his career simply as 
a powerful Germanic king, as he found his dominions swelling 
into a veritable Western Empire, he allowed his imagination 



CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS AGE 51 

to lead his ambition to a nobler title. The ruler who began as 
King of the Franks, ended as a Roman Emperor, claiming all 
the power of the old Caesars. 

26. Charlemagne's Saxon wars. Charlemagne's work was 
only partly that of a warrior, yet some of his campaigns left a 
permanent stamp upon history. When he came to the throne 
a large fraction of present-day Germany was not merely inde- 
pendent of the Frankish monarchy, but was heathen and sav- 
age. Behind their swamps and forests the Saxons had resisted 
every attempt at their conversion and civilization. Many 
years of Charlemagne's reign (772 to 804, with many intermis- 
sions) were consumed in the attempt to bring this fierce, un- 
tamed, yet potentially noble people under the yoke of the 
Frankish monarchy. Modern ethics do not commend the 
propagation of Christianity and civilization by the sword, yet 
the fact remains that if the Saxons had been let alone one of the 
most valuable portions of the German folk would have been 
left to centuries of squalor and degradation. Campaign after 
campaign Charlemagne directed into their country. Usually 
the Frankish host invaded the swampy Saxon land in the 
spring and remained for the summer, chasing the enemy into 
the forests, taking hostages, bribing or browbeating the prison- 
ers into accepting baptism, and finally erecting a few fortresses 
in which were left garrisons. Then the invaders would retire; 
the Saxons would emerge from the greenwood; some of the 
Frankish fortresses would be taken; others besieged. The next 
spring would bring a new invading host, and the former 
process would be repeated ; only each campaign fastened the 
Frankish yoke a little more firmly, and left the pagan party 
a little weaker and less resolved upon resistance. With the host 
of Charlemagne would go another host of priests and abbots, 
" so that this race (says the mediaeval chronicler), which from 
the beginning of the world had been bound by the chains of 
demons, might bow to the yoke of the sweet and gentle Christ." 



52 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Wherever conditions admitted, churches and monasteries were 
built, bishoprics established, and the whole population duly 
baptized — usually under sore compulsion. 

It was a weary, uneventful war. There were no great battles. 
The contest was almost entirely of the guerrilla order; petty 
skirmishes, raids, and sieges. In 785, Wittekind, the chief 
Saxon leader, made his submission; but many of his followers 
held out till 804. Thenceforth there was peace in the exhausted 
land. With surprising rapidity Christianity and Frankish re- 
finements took root in Saxony. A century later it could be 
reckoned among the most civilized countries of Europe and 
was actually giving Emperors to Charlemagne's old dominions 1 
— one of the most astonishing transformations in history. 

27. The downfall of the Lombards. Charlemagne's father, 
Pepin, had answered the call of the Pope for deliverance against 
the oppressive Lombards, but his death had seemed to relieve 
this intractable people of most of their fears of Frankish inter- 
vention. For a moment Charlemagne actually was likely to 
become the ally of King Desiderius, by becoming his son-in- 
law; but on some pretext, the Lombard princess was soon put 
away. To the marked relief of the Pope (who saw in Charle- 
magne his only worldly help against domination from Pa via), 
the two monarchs proceeded to quarrel. Probably Desiderius 
had trusted to a faction among the Frankish nobles for help 
against their lord, but no disaffection materialized. In 773, 
with an overpowering host, the great King of the North swept 
through the Alpine passes. Desiderius dared not risk a battle. 
He shut himself within his fortress-capital of Pavia, awaiting 
the outside help which never came. 

Charlemagne blockaded the city, and let famine do its work. 
He himself left his army to press the siege while he went on to 
Rome — there to be received with all those pompous honors 
the Romans have known so well how to bestow in every age. 

1 See p. 74. 



CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS AGE 53 

He was duly proclaimed "Patrician " * of the Holy and Eternal 
City. The citizens took oath to him; and he promised the Pope 
to confirm to him the very wide but equally ill-defined grants 
of temporal authority in Italy which had been made by Pepin. 
In 774, Pavia surrendered. Desiderius and his children were 
shut up in monasteries. The Lombard royal line was at end; 
and with it one more of the kingdoms which had reared them- 
selves on the ruins of the old Roman Empire of the West. 
Outside of the petty Anglo-Saxon states in England every one 
of these kingdoms had perished except that of Frankland. The 
Moslems had absorbed Africa and Spain; Charlemagne held 
Gaul and all of North and Central Italy. "King of Italy" he 
was now styled, when he declared himself Desiderius's lawful 
successor. He was now the holder of two crowns, besides 
being "Patrician" of Rome, making him an almost indispen- 
sable protector to the Pope. Such a monarch might well aspire 
to the imperial title. 

28. Charlemagne's other wars. The earlier Frankish kings 
had possessed indefinite rights of overlordship east of the 
Rhine, extending into what is now South and Central Germany 
and western Austria. Part of the folk here were Germanic, 
farther east lay the savage Slavs and the still more savage 
Avars. The security of his frontier, as well as the honor due his 
name, required that these restless peoples should be conquered 
thoroughly. Charlemagne devoted much of his military energy 
to the task. In 786, the outbreak of Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, 
the leading prince among these uneasy vassals, gave the great 
king abundant pretext for a thorough conquest. Tassilo was 
deposed, and his nigh-independent dukedom of Bavaria was 
absorbed. The chastisement of his barbarous allies the Avars 
carried the war far to the east. The Frankish armies were not 
halted until much of the modern land of Austria had been 

1 The exact meaning of this word, in Charlemagne's case, is very hard to 
define briefly. Perhaps "Royal and Especial Protector" is the best translation. 



54 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

brought within Charlemagne's growing domains. Christianity 
(hitherto with a very feeble footing in those parts) now became 
the dominant, and soon the only lawful, religion. Almost the 
entire German people were brought to the new faith, and a be- 
ginning had been made in the conversion of the non- Germans 
beyond them. 

In 778, Charlemagne had gone on an expedition elsewhere, of 
greater fame than importance. Some disaffected emirs had 
invited him to invade Mohammedan Spain. A few cities 
directly south of the Pyrenees were seized, but it was soon evi- 
dent that the Moslems had too firm a grip on the land to be 
readily shaken; and Charlemagne had other projects. On the 
retreat through the pass of Roncesvalles the Basque moun- 
taineers fell on the king's rear guard, and slew " Count Roland 
of Brittany " and a contingent with him. It was an insignificant 
loss, but two and a half centuries later it was seized upon by 
the French minstrels, and made the subject of a great epic 
poem. The Chanson de Roland, telling how Roland and his 
knights were slain at Roncesvalles, forms the burden of the 
noblest epic produced in the Age of Chivalry. After a few 
years, however, Charlemagne reoccupied the country as far as 
the Ebro, and organized it into the Spanish " March." 1 This 
was an important step in the Christian recovery of Spain. 

29. The coronation of Charlemagne. As years went on, as 
the Frankish monarchy grew from power to power, as its ruler 
seemed ever more irresistible in war, more indefatigable in 
spreading the works of peace, the conviction doubtless deep- 
ened steadily that here was a sovereign and a dominion for 
which the old names and titles of a mere German kingdom were 
totally inadequate. Even in Charlemagne's boyhood no one 
seems to have questioned that, however much the authority 

1 The "Marches" (or in Germany, "Marks") were frontier districts, usually 
of high military importance, ruled by a " Count of the Marches " (" Marquis," or 
"Markgraf "), who ranked .very high in the scale of mediaeval nobility. 



CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS AGE 



55 



of the Caesar of Constantinople may have been defied in fact, 
in theory he was the lord of at least the whole Christian world. 
But the Lombards had destroyed the last vestige of East 
Roman authority in Italy, before they had been themselves 
overwhelmed by the Franks. The Popes had quarreled with 
the Eastern Caesars on many theological points, and they were 




CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE 



also profoundly jealous of the Patriarch of Constantinople, 
who affected a kind of equality with themselves. Could there 
be two Roman Emperors? Could the old Empire of the West, 
whereof the fame had never been forgotten, ever be revived? 
Could not the ■" Roman People," 1 whose ancestors had once 

1 The remnant of the Roman population, that lived on in the vast but crum- 
bling city all through the Middle Ages, never ceased to take pride in their 
ancestry, to trade on their great name, and to affect to keep up the traditions of 
Roman sovereignty. It was an absurd pretension, but so captivated were men 
by the fame of the Eternal City that at times they half-recognized it. 



56 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

ruled the world, bestow the imperial title on whom they would? 
Should not the Pope, the Vicar of Christ on earth, have a great 
part in the bestowal of the greatest temporal honor? 

Such questions must have been earnestly debated all through 
the last decade of the eighth century. The time was ripe for 
bold assertion of the claims of Charlemagne; for at Constanti- 
nople the imperial throne had been seized by a brilliant but 
unscrupulous woman, Irene; and it was very doubtful if in 
strict law a woman could reign over the Roman Empire. If her 
title were bad, the throne of Augustus and of Constantine was 
vacant. 

In 800, Charlemagne found himself in Rome to quell certain 
local disturbances. It was Christmas Day. A brilliant com- 
pany had gathered in the magnificent and sacred Basilica of 
St. Peter. 1 The king was praying at the great altar. One can 
imagine the impressive ceremonial: the incense smoke, the 
chanting choir, the splendidly arrayed courtiers in the nave; 
the still more splendidly vested ecclesiastics nearer the altar. 
Suddenly Pope Leo approached the kneeling monarch, and 
placed on his head a glittering crown. Catching the mean- 
ing instantly, the populace made the great church quiver 
with their shout, " To Charles the Mighty, great and pacific 
Emperor of the Romans, crowned of God, — be long life and 
victory! " 

Whether Charlemagne was Emperor because the Roman 
people had so saluted him, because the Pope as God's vicegerent 
had crowned him, or because by his own glory and victories 
he had won the title (which this act then merely proclaimed), 
no man at the moment took pains to decide. Charlemagne 
afterward declared himself displeased at what had befallen in 
the church. Perhaps he wished the Pope's part had been less, 
yet in any event he made no effort to repudiate the title. For 

1 Not the present famous church of St. Peter, but its predecessor, on the 
same site; a building in some respects possibly nobler than the existing structure. 



CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS AGE 



57 



the rest of his reign (fourteen years) he is Carolus Augustus in 
his proclamations, even as an old Roman Emperor. He con- 
sciously tries to cen- 
tralize his authority. 
He never becomes 
ashamed of his old 
Germanic traditions 
or institutions ; he 
never plays the tyr- Gj 
ant ; nevertheless the 
world sees something 
very different from 
the old Frankish mo- 
narchy. Here is the 
old Western Empire 
revived; albeit on a 
thoroughly Christian 
and Germanic basis. 
The 'Holy Roman 
Empire " is born. 

30. Charlemagne 
the civilizer. Char- 
lemagne's empire 
roughly corresponded 
with the old Empire 
of the West. Various 
provinces * were lack- 
ing, but he had a 
hold on Germany 
such as no genuine 
Caesar had possessed. 
To administer these 




SPECIMEN OF CAROLINGIAN ART 
The cover of a prayer-book of the time of Charle- 
magne. This composition is obviously suggested by 
Psalm lvii. At the top there is a representation of 
God surrounded by heavenly beings. At his feet seated 
upon a couch is an angel holding a child on his lap, 
symbolizing the soul of man which rests in the shadow 
of the wings of God. The angel is viewed as the div- 
inely sent deliverer and the winged figures represent 
Mercy and Truth. The soul of man, though protected 
by the divine wings and the angel's arms, is threatened 
by evil ones represented by lions and by hostile bands 
which approach him, but stand back in awe. They are 
destined to fall into the pit digged by themselves. 



1 Especially Spain, Africa, and Britain. The Emperors of Constantinople 
also still held southern Italy and Sicily. 



58 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

great dominions he used no complex machinery. At his court 
were a few high officers, and his council of worldly wise bishops 
and battle-loving noblemen; in the various districts were 
counts * to administer justice, enforce the laws, and lead the 
provincial militia; over the marks (the important frontier 
provinces) were rnarkgrafs, usually tried military men. To 
supervise these local officers and keep them to their duty, 
Charlemagne sent his missi dominici, imperial messengers, 
usually dispatched in pairs, and ever visiting and reporting 
upon the condition of the nations. This system worked admir- 
ably with such a person as Charlemagne at its head. Under 
less skillful guidance it proved too simple to be really efficient. 

But Charlemagne gave more than firm government with law 
and order. Under his fostering a real revival of learning and 
letters took place. Literature and mere literacy were at a very 
low ebb, even in the Church; when he became king, he devoted 
himself with genuine enthusiasm to combating the evil. To 
aid him in this task he summoned from England a distinguished 
scholar, Alcuin, who became master of the " Palace School " — 
a sort of model academy maintained at court, and frequented 
by the youths of noble family. The bishops and abbots through- 
out the Empire were required to establish similar schools for 
their localities, while earnestly did Charlemagne combat the 
notion that ignorance was compatible with genuine piety. 
" Let schools be established in each monastery or bishopric " 
(ran his mandate) " in which boys may learn to read, and to 
correct carefully the Psalms, the signs in writing, the songs, the 
calendar, the grammar, because often men desire to pray to God 
properly, but they pray badly because of the incorrect books." 

Under Alcuin 's guidance there was a widespread revival of 
interest in the old Latin classics. Cicero, Horace, Virgil, and 
Seneca were copied and studied in numerous monasteries; and 

1 Literally, comites, "companions," i.e., of the king or Emperor, and hence 
his local representatives. 



CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS AGE 59 

their style imitated in poems, histories, and essays. There was 
little originality in the literary attempts ■ — usually a merely 
slavish rehandling of ideas that were new eight centuries pre- 
viously; but it was a great thing that the wisdom of the ancients 
was held in honor, and that a mighty ruler exalted the scholar 
as well as the warrior. 

How Charlemagne disciplined unworthy ecclesiastics, reor- 
ganized the Frankish Church, established just systems of laws, 
promoted skillful agriculture, — there is no space here to tell. 
In 814, the great Emperor died at the height of his prosperity. 
German and Roman seemed welded together into a new and 
better Western Empire, and the end of the centuries of confu- 
sion appeared to have come. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Wittekind; Desiderius; Pavia; Patrician; Ost-Mark; Ronces- 
vaUes; Chanson de Roland; Marches (Marks); Count; Alcuin; Palace 
School (Scola Palatina) ; Missi Dominici. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Pavia. 

(b) Mark the bounds of Charlemagne's Empire at his accession and 
at his death. 

(c) Make a list of his wars, and mark the regions of the wars on the 
map. What inference would you make from a comparison of the 
dates and places of his campaigns? 

(d) In the lands north of the Mediterranean and west of the Balkan 
Peninsula, compare Charlemagne's Empire at its greatest extent 
with the Roman Empire at the beginning of our period. 

3. Charlemagne's personality and habits. 

4. Why did the conquest of the Saxons take such a long time? Compare 
with the conquest of the Lombards. What part was taken in the Saxon 
conquest by the Church? 

5. What was the meaning of the great event of 800 A.D.? 

6. The nature of the revival of learning. 

EXERCISES 

1. Charlemagne's methods of warfare. 

2. How were laws made under Charlemagne? How were they enforced? 

3. The importance of the Church under Charlemagne. 



6o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

4. What were the aims of Charlemagne in his wars? 

5. What was the real basis of Charlemagne's power? Did his coronation 
increase it? 

6. Charlemagne as a farmer. 

7. Distinguish between "Count" and "Duke." 

8. The relation of Charlemagne as Emperor to the Pope as head of the 
Papal States. 

9. The Carolingian Renaissance. 

10. The beginnings of feudalism under Charlemagne. 

READING 

Sources. Ogg: chapter ix. Robinson: nos. 53-64. 

Modem accounts. Emerton: pp. 180-235. Seignobos: pp. 52-62. Bemont 
and Monod: pp. 179-210. Duruy: pp. 73-85. Pattison: pp. 15-38. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE TERRIBLE NINTH CENTURY AND THE RISE OF 
FEUDALISM 

31. Why Charlemagne's Empire dissolved. The Empire of 
Charlemagne was such an immediate success, the authority 
of the monarch was so generally acknowledged, the usages of 
civilization took such a marked revival that it was fondly 
imagined that the golden age had returned. Never was there 
more terrible illusion. The age of Charlemagne was followed by 
over a century of misery and anarchy, until very slowly a better 
era returned. The new " Holy Roman Empire " had really been 
held together by the personal genius of its founder. Under his 
feebler successors, elements of weakness at once displayed 
themselves. In 887, the Empire (temporarily reunited) was 
for the last time split asunder: it was never constituted in its 
fullness again; and when we study the conditions then existing, 
we marvel, not that the Empire fell, but that it lasted so long. 
Here are some of the causes which toppled down the imposing 
fabric which Charlemagne had erected. 

(a) The personal weakness of his successors was a great 
bane. Some of these men were feeble; some were evil; none was 
free from bitter rivals. The Carolingian dynasty had already 
produced four great rulers in succession. 1 It was almost beyond 
nature to maintain the high quality of the line. Louis the Pious 
(814-40), who took over his mighty father's realm, was a man 
of many private virtues, but far too weak and priest-governed 
to control his own turbulent, undutiful sons, who contended 
bitterly in his own lifetime over the inheritance. Soon after 
his death the Empire was rent by devastating civil wars, with 

1 Pepin of Heristal, Charles Martel, Pepin the Short, and Charlemagne. 



62 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

the younger brothers, Louis the German and Charles the Bald, 
striving against their elder brother Lothaire. 1 In 841, the battle 
of Fontenay (near Auxerre in modern France) ended in the 
defeat of Lothaire, and the parceling of the Empire into three 
separate dominions (Treaty of Verdun, 843). Only for less than 
fourbrief years (884-87) was the whole Empire again reunited. 

(b) There was no real national unity in Charlemagne's 
dominions. The Lombards of Italy, the Gallo-Romans of 
Aquitaine, the " Franks " of mixed blood of the Rhinelands, 
the newly baptized Saxons of the North, felt nothing in com- 
mon. The moment the firm hand of the master was withdrawn, 
the hostile elements sprang asunder. 

(c) The physical difficulties of proper communication 
through such a vast empire were very great. The roads were 
wretched. Most of the great rivers were unbridged. 2 To send 
armies or even messengers from one province to another was 
a very slow and uncertain business. 

(d) At the moment when the successors of Louis the Pious 
were rending one another in civil war, their arms ought to have 
been diverted against the ravaging Northmen. These hardy 
Scandinavian pirates began their raids almost as soon as the 
terrible Charlemagne had departed. With their long, open 
"dragon ships " they would row up the rivers of Gaul to some 
convenient point, disembark, then carry their forays far and 
wide. Individually they were better armed 3 and more battle- 
worthy than the average Frankish levy which could be brought 
against them. Bold pagans themselves, they found in the rich 
churches and abbeys their richest booty. For years this scourge 

1 To Lothaire was conceded the title of "Emperor": the others were merely 
"kings"; but the question was what lands should the two have and what should 
be Lothaire's exact power over them. 

2 In the period of the invasions, most of the magnificent road and bridge 
system maintained by the old Roman Emperors had fallen grievously into dis- 
repair. 

3 They had particularly excellent shirts of woven "ring-mail," a kind of armor 
possessed by very few Frankish warriors. 



THE RISE OF FEUDALISM 



63 




NORSE SHIP 
(From the Bayeux Tapestry) 



went on without effectual check, until in 885 the " Northern 
Heathen " besieged Paris and met with a gallant resistance 
and a defeat. 1 Driven by necessity the inhabitants of Frank- 
land at length developed an efficient cavalry (in the place of a 
mere infantry force) and covered their land with fortified 
castles against which 
the Northmen beat in 
vain. In 911, Rollo, 
a Scandinavian chief, 
made a treaty with 
Charles the Simple, 
King of the West 
Franks, which practi- 
cally ended the inva- 
sions. The Northmen 
were to receive a large 
tract of land along the 
British Channel (Normandy) , become Christians and the feudal 
vassals of the king, with Rollo as their duke. The plan suc- 
ceeded. The Northmen assimilated Frankish habits with 
astonishing rapidity and were soon zealous for their new 
religion. Within a century Normandy was one of the most 
typical and relatively civilized lands of western Europe. 2 

32. The growth of new national units. It was a period of 
fearful cruelties and of utterly destructive warfare. Again 
civilization seemed to retrograde: but certain definite forces 
were at work. Italy was again for a while separating itself from 
northern Europe, under rulers who called themselves now 
" Emperors," 3 now "Kings of Italy." There are clear tokens 

1 This is about the first time that Paris appears prominently in history. It 
is an important center from this time onward. 

2 Besides the Norse invasions, there were raids by the Saracens and Hunga- 
rians in the ninth and tenth centuries. To protect the frontiers, it was necessary 
to give their defenders, the "counts," unusual powers; thus they tended to 
become as strong as their rulers, and practically independent of them. 

3 Their actual power at best was over only a fraction of northern Italy. 



6 4 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



of how Neustria (West Frankland) and Austrasia (East Frank- 
land) were changing themselves into entirely separate nations 
- France and Germany. At Strassburg in 842, while Louis 
the German and Charles the Bald were still in alliance against 
Lothaire, they exchanged oaths of mutual fidelity, each in the 
language best understood by his brother's followers. The 



. _ Partition ot 

" 870, The Treaty of Mersen 
which gave to Charles the lands marked Eiiial 
EZZ1 





THE FRANKS IX THE XIXTH CENTURY 

exact text of these oaths has been preserved. The pledge given 
before the men of the West was very obviously in something 
like French : that given before the men of the East still more 
resembled German. The division of lands made by the ensuing 
Treaty of Verdun (843) was also potent for future history. 



THE RISE OF FEUDALISM 65 

To Charles the Bald was given the western lands, the nucleus 
obviously of modern France: to Louis the German, the east- 
ern, most decidedly a large part of modern Germany. Their 
brother Lothair received a long, narrow strip of territory from 
the North Sea down into Italy. It corresponded to no terri- 
torial division ancient or modern. "Lothair's Kingdom" 1 
was all they could call it afterward, and " Lorraine" remains 
to this day a debatable land betwixt France and Germany, a 
standing menace to the peace of Europe. 

In 887, the last direct Carolingian ceased to reign in Ger- 
many. The independent "Kingdom of Lothair" had already 
been extinguished — temporarily. In France the Carolingians 
were not to be expelled from nominal power until 987: but the 
age of Charles the Great was clearly ended. The " Frankish" 
period of European history is passed : and insensibly one enters 
the " Feudal" period. 

33. The feudal system. The " Feudal Age " is the term often 
used as synonymous with the " Middle Ages." As a matter of 
fact it includes only about the years 900 to 1300, when the 
power of the kings and the " nation " was weak, and what we 
may call "the feudal nobility" was strong. 

The origins of feudalism can be traced back to old Rome 
and to old German times, before the great invasions. There 
were plenty of tokens of " feudal conditions " in Charlemagne's 
day. But what really brought the feudal regime to pass was 
the direful weakening of the Government under his unhappy 
successors : and the need which men felt for some system of 
society which would guard against the worst kind of anarchy. 

By 900, the power of the kings who inherited the fragments 
of Charlemagne's Empire had sunk low, indeed. Even if they 
had been wise and well-intentioned monarchs, the entire spirit 

1 "Lotharii Regnum." The name "Lorraine" seems especially to have 
attached itself to the northern part of the strip, which was also ruled over later 
by Lothair II, son of Lothair I. 



66 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



of the age prevented the successful exertion of their authority. 
Many causes, long operating, tended to substitute for what we 
may call the normal political society, in which all men are 
fellow members of a great nation, a new order commonly called 
" feudalism." Feudalism is extremely difficult to define in a 
few words, but perhaps it is correct to say that it is a condition 
of things in which lawful authority is not based on the common 
allegiance of everybody to a central " government," but on 

a great number of special compacts, 
each between two persons, whereby 
the great " lord " becomes at once a 
kind of landlord, and also a high 
magistrate and war-chief over the 
lesser " vassal." In the Middle Ages 
the question would not be so much, 
" Of what nation are you? " as, " Of 
what lord do you hold your lands?" 
The manner in which that question 
was answered settled the social and 
political status of an individual. Of 
all the causes contributing to the 
growth of feudalism, the most general 
was the fact that kings and other 
magnates would grant away the 
lands whereof they were possessed in return for military 
service. 1 At first this " leasing " (as modern men would say) 
was temporary: it ceased when the very peculiar "rent" 
(military service and certain financial assistance) was not 
duly paid and when either the landlord (suzerain) or tenant 
(vassal) died. But as the king's power weakened, and as long 

1 Along with the mere private control of the land would usually go various 
kinds of "immunity" — e.g., exemption from royal jurisdiction over the land, 
or the collection of royal taxes within the land. The new "vassal" would thus 
enjoy the jurisdiction over the lands granted him, conjoined often with its entire 
revenues. 




CHAIR 
(Drawn from a miniature in a 
tenth-century manuscript) 



THE RISE OF FEUDALISM 67 

occupancy of a "fief" (feudal holding) made the tenant feel 
that holding the fief was his right, not his privilege, the ties 
of vassalage became more and more permanent. The king 
could not recall the fief if he would, except in extreme cases. 
He was also obliged to confirm it to his late vassal's son or 
sons, or, if there were no son, to his daughter. During the 
breaking-up of Charlemagne's Empire the great vassals of the 
kingdoms forgot all but their most formal duties to their 
nominal overlord. They became independent princes in all but 
name, and it was seldom that " their lord the king " was able 
effectively to coerce them. 

But these great vassals in turn were under necessity of seeing 
their own dominions parceled out among lesser princelets still ; 
and these again might have dependent on them a swarm of 
petty nobles possessing only a fortified tower and a few bare 
acres. The feudal system in fact caught in its tentacles prac- 
tically the entire social fabric of the Middle Ages. The bishops 
and abbots of the Church were usually feudal lords, with all the 
political and military rights and duties of the lay nobility 
over the ample estates of the Church. 1 The miserable lower 
classes, who had been held in various degrees of bondage dur- 
ing the Roman and Frankish periods, became adjuncts to the 
feudal system, as villeins of the lords; the humble and necessary 
supporters (serfs or not much better) of the dominant nobility. 2 

In this feudal regime there is no essential order or system. 
Theoretically every ''nobleman" 3 owed allegiance to some 
overlord, and this overlord to some higher overlord, and so on 

1 Perhaps one fourth to one fifth of all the lands of western Europe can be 
conceived to have been held by the Church during the Middle Ages. Still, 
although the Church was drawn thus into the feudal system, the Church itself 
never became really feudalized. Churchmen might also be feudal lords, but no 
bishop, for example, held his bishopric as the vassal of an archbishop. 

2 For the status of the non-nobles under the feudal regime, see p. 141. 

3 That is, every person who held land or who had fair claims to hold land 
as a genuine vassal: in other words, about every person who was a stout fighter, 
and was not the son of a villein, and had not entered the Church. 



68 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

in a regular sequence upward to the king. Actually the most 
extreme confusion reigned. 1 "Organized anarchy" feudalism 
has been called by a justly despairing scholar. Still, despite 
the confusion, there are certain lines of demarcation which 
characterize feudal institutions and conditions. Bearing these 
in mind will solve many problems. 

(a) As a rule, the lowest feudal noblemen ranked as mere 
"seigneurs" (German, "Ritters"), possessors of a small 
castle with a few peasants depending. Above these would fol- 
low in a kind of order barons, viscounts, counts, 2 marquises, 
and dukes: at the head of all, of course, the king. A great abbot 
would probably rank as a viscount : a prince-bishop as a count, 
perhaps higher. There were, however, no fixed usages: e.g., in 
France certain counts were every whit as powerful as the dukes, 
while other counts might be doing homage for some of their 
lands to a baron or viscount. 

(b) The prime obligations of the nobleman to his suzerain 
were (i) homage: to kneel down before him on proper occa- 
sions; to take his hands; to swear to execute the feudal duties; 
to do him no injury; and then, in compliance with his oath, 
(2) to fight for him against his enemies (this was the chief 
duty) ; to give him good counsel, especially to assist him in 
awarding justice; and on certain stipulated but rather rare 



King Count Bishop 




Duke < Baron 



1 This diagram gives a slight idea of the possibilities of complications 
under the feudal system. Note that the baron owes allegiance to the other 
four magnates. In case of a war between the king and the duke, or the count 
and the bishop, whom was he to support? — Matters might often be more 
complicated than this. 

2 In England the counts were styled "earls," — although that was really an 
old Anglo-Saxon title. In Germany the corresponding title was "Graf." 



THE RISE OF FEUDALISM 69 

occasions to supply him with money. In return the suzerain 
would owe "his man " military protection against his enemies, 
fair play in any lawsuit, and must see to it that his children 
were not cheated out of their father's inheritance. 

(c) The center of feudal life and action was ordinarily the 
nobleman's castle. Every regular fief possessed one; some- 
times a mighty fortress, sometimes a petty tower. 1 In any 
case, however, the capture thereof was a slow and bloody 
business. Behind his good walls and with a few trusty retainers 
a very feeble baron could " make good his rights " against his 
suzerain, — so inefficient were the battering-engines of the 
day. These castles had sprung into being particularly to check 
the ravages of the Northmen, and other raiders: but every- 
where they were multiplied, and became so many centers of 
political disintegration. Only starvation could reduce them 
as a rule, and their masters comported themselves as so many 
petty kings. They exercised the powers of " pit-and-gallows " 
(life and death) over their peasants; they coined money in 
their own name; they waged bloody warfare upon their neigh- 
bors in the next castle, or perhaps against the prince-abbot of 
the neighboring monastery. A rude sense of honor usually 
compelled them to execute their bare pledge to their suzerain, 
especially by giving the stipulated number of days of military 
service, but if an overlord was a wise man, he did not interfere 
in the internal management of his vassals' fiefs, or in their pri- 
vate quarrels. It was enough if they did their sworn duty to 
himself, and did not involve him in war with his neighbors: 
while he in turn (unless he were the king) was probably full of 
distrust toward his suzerain. 

This, then, was the setting of mediaeval society: — the 
masses of the toiling peasantry without political rights or 
standing; the barons in armor, riding rough-shod over the 

1 Of course, a fief sometimes consisted of a mere grant, say of market-dues or 
hunting privileges, but the normal type of a fief involved a land grant. 



7 o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

unprivileged unarmed multitude; and the enfeebled king often 
trembling before his own " vassals." Only of the terrible 
thunders of the Church had these feudal lords great awe. 1 

REVIEW 

i. Topics — Louis the Pious; Verdun; Northmen; Rollo; The Strassburg 
Oaths; Lorraine; Feudalism; Suzerain; Vassal; Immunity; Fief; 
Villein. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Fontenay; Verdun; Paris; Normandy. 

(b) Mark the bounds according to the division of 843. 

3. What were the real causes for the dissolution of the Empire. 

4. What do you consider the really important dates for the "Frankish 
period" of European history (from Clovis to the final division of the 
Empire) . 

5. What conditions would tend to prevent the Kingdom of Lothair (843) 
from being a permanent one? 

6. Why did feudalism develop in the ninth and tenth centuries? 

7. What was the position of the Church in the feudal system? 

8. What were the obligations of the suzerain and of the vassal? 

EXERCISES 

1. The Northmen. 

2. Extent of the Norse raids. 

3. The Strassburg oaths and their significance. 

4. The siege of Paris. 

5. The importance of the foundation of the Duchy of Normandy. 

6. The beginnings of feudalism under Charlemagne. 

7. The essential elements of feudalism — vassalage, benefice, and im- 
munity. 

8. The ceremony of rendering homage and fealty. 

READING 

The Empire — Sources. Ogg: chapter x. Robinson: nos. 65-71. 

Modem Accounts. Emerton: Mediaeval Europe, pp. 13-40. 

Seignobos: pp. 148-49. Bemont and Monod: pp. 211- 

45. Duruy: pp. 86-104. Pattison: pp. 39-57. 

Feudalism — Sources. Ogg: chapter xm, pp. 34-38. Robinson: nos. 72-90. 

Modern Accounts. Emerton: Introduction, pp. 236-55. 

Bemont and Monod: pp. 246-54. 

1 Feudal society and the organization of feudal countries are extremely hard 
to define without going into many technical details. A clearer idea of the age 
and its so-called civilization will be gained after reading chapter xn. 



CHAPTER VIII 

the holy roman empire in germany and italy 

(to 1056) 

34. The origins of the Kingdom of Germany. Out of the 

ruins of Charlemagne's Empire were born two nations that 
bear themselves proudly in modern times — Germany and 
France. Of these Germany, the eastern fragment of the old 
Frankish dominions, developed first, and displayed a noble 
promise of becoming the dominant power of Europe : nay, for 
a while bade fair to restore the Empire of Charlemagne. The 
attempt failed, but it was a magnificent failure, full of notable 
events and significant for later history. The annals of Germany 
as apart from those of East Frankland begin with Henry the 
Fowler (919-36). It is needful to see over what manner of 
realm he ruled. 

By 900, the future Germany seemed dissolved into a number 
of great territorial units which represented something more 
than merely feudal states, however much the feudal system 
may have penetrated them. 1 Stem-duchies these great divi- 
sions are usually called. Each had its own dialect, social cus- 
toms, code of laws, and local pride. The inhabitants would 
probably be much more devoted to their own mighty duke than 
to the " king," who might come from some distant duchy 
with which they had held long rivalry. Saxony with Thu- 
ringia, Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia, and Lorraine are units to 
be borne in mind all through the study of German history. 
Usually the elective king of Germany would be the duke of one 

1 Generally considered, the feudal system gained a little less complete control 
of Germany than of France, in which feudal conditions reached their fullest 
development. Italy, too, was never as much feudalized as France. 



72 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

of these duchies in his own right. If he were able to win the 
hearty support of two other dukes, he could probably coerce 
the remainder, for Thuringia was too small to have an inde- 
pendent policy and usually went with Saxony. To bring even 
three duchies heartily into line, however, was often a weary 
task even for a very energetic monarch. 

The kingship of Germany was elective, like almost all medi- 
aeval kingships. l Originally nearly all the higher nobles and 
prince-bishops of the land seem to have felt entitled to have a 
part in the " Diets," — assemblies to choose the new sovereign 
or transact other business of state. Only very gradually was 
the number of " electors'' limited and their strict procedure 
fixed. After perhaps a tumultuous mass meeting, while the 
"Aye! Aye!" of the supporters of the victorious candidate 
was resounding, the defeated faction would retire to consider 
whether it were wise to contest the election —not with bal- 
lots but with swords. 

While there was a certain amount of fellow feeling among 
these former East Franks, as against the incipient Frenchmen 
west of the Rhine, nevertheless the divisions and local differ- 
ences amongst them were great. To make Germany into a well- 
compacted nation w r as the task of nearly ten centuries. 

35. Henry the Fowler (919-36). The last legitimate 
Carolingian ceased to reign in Germany in 887. From that 
time until 919 the land was in a state of practical chaos. The 
kings had little control over the " stem-dukes," the petty 
nobles waged ceaseless and pitiless war one upon the other, 
and the country was terribly harried by the Northmen descend- 
ing from Scandinavia, and by the still more cruel Magyar 

1 Usually in Germany the reigning monarch could use his influence to get his 
son elected co-king in his lifetime. On the death of the old king, the young king 
would step into full power. But often there would be no available prince suit- 
able or acceptable for election. The nobility were intensely jealous of the growth 
of royal power. Sometimes a relatively weak and ineffective man would be 
chosen — that he might not become a really masterful sovereign. 



THE EMPIRE IN GERMANY AND ITALY 



73 



hordes, issuing, on their wiry horses, from the plains of Hun- 
gary, to burn and pillage. 

Either the country must have a king who could command 
the allegiance of the dukes, could enforce peace upon the nobles 




5° Longitude East from Greenwich 10 



THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE IN GERMANY AND ITALY TO 1056 

and fling back the invaders, or Germany would relapse into its 
primitive barbarism. Such a king appeared in the person of 
Henry the Fowler. 1 



1 He gained his name from the tradition that he was returning from hawking 
when the messenger came to announce the tidings of his selection. 



74 History of Europe 

Henry the Fowler was a mature and tried ruler when a large 
faction of the princes rallied around him. He was already duke 
of the most powerful single stem-duchy, — Saxony, — and 
he could command the ready allegiance of Franconia and 
Thuringia. Thus fortified, he was able to coerce successively 
Swabia, Bavaria, and Lorraine, either making their dukes 
submit themselves loyally, or (in the case of Lorraine) replac- 
ing the old ruler with one more trustworthy. So some kind of 
law and order was presently restored to the troubled land 
from within, and Henry was able to deal manfully with the 
terrible enemy beyond, the borders. 

The ravages of the Northmen were ceasing, but the Magyars 
remained as a direful scourge. This race of semi- Tartar 
nomads, akin, perhaps, to the old Huns of Attila, had recently 
encamped themselves on the fertile plains of the Danube, and 
now were harrying the whole length and breadth of Germany. 
Repeatedly they had defeated large German armies in battle. 
To check their devastations, Henry resorted to measures not 
spectacular but effective. Pocketing his pride, he purchased a 
nine-years' truce from the Magyars (924-33), and during the 
interval devoted himself, first, to developing a cavalry force 
(the Germans had been hitherto almost exclusively an infantry 
folk), without which the mounted barbarians could hardly be 
brought to bay; and, second, to the building of castles and forti- 
fied towns of refuge against which they might dash themselves 
in vain. 1 

In 933, when the truce expired, the Magyars, on being refused 
their tribute, swept into Saxony. Henry met them at the bat- 
tle of the Unstrut, and they were totally defeated. For some 
time their power was broken, and Henry's policy was amply 

1 Henry gave a mighty impulse to the founding of towns in North Germany. 
Quedlinburg, Goslar, and Nordhausen, and other very old German cities were 
among his foundations. On his accession (barring a few old Roman towns, e.g., 
Mainz and Cologne on the Rhine) there was perhaps hardly a place of one thous- 
and inhabitants in Germany. 



THE EMPIRE IN GERMANY AND ITALY 75 

justified. Cautious, methodical, practical if never brilliant, 
Henry the Fowler was one of the prime builders of Germany. 

36. Otto I (936-73) — his power in Germany. Henry was 
able to transmit his power to his son Otto I, a man of solid 
abilities equal to his father's, but more brilliant and more 
ambitious. The first years of his reign were consumed in 
struggles with his own Saxon kinsmen. In fact it was not till 
954 that the last malcontents in Germany had been crushed 
and the stem-duchies and great prince-bishoprics put in the 
hands of faithful supporters of the monarchy. In 955, Otto 
gained new prestige by inflicting another great defeat upon the 
Magyars at the battle of the Lech (Bavaria), which ended their 
ravages for all time. During these earlier years of Otto, his 
good friend the Markgraf Hermann Billung had been pushing 
back the Slavic Wends to the east of Saxony from the country 
now around Berlin and adding new lands to Germany and to 
Christendom. By 961, Otto was in a position of such security 
and power that he could undertake a great expedition to 
Rome 1 — in search of nothing less than the imperial crown once 
worn by Charlemagne. 

37. Otto I — his revival of the Holy Roman Empire. Italy 
was in a most evil state on the eve of his coming. The peninsula 
was torn asunder by a score of petty princelets. In the cities, 
usually ruled by a piince-bishop, there were still large survivals 
of the old Roman culture, but civilization seemed decaying 
even in these its last strongholds. The Roman Papacy had 
never been in a worse plight. The papal office was still held in 
great reverence throughout western Europe ; but its very tem- 
poral importance made it the prey of utterly worldly and often 
immoral men, who usually gained power by support of an 
armed faction. When Otto undertook to march to Rome, the 
Papacy was held by John XII, a youth who had become Pope 

1 He had already (951) made a brief expedition over the Alps, and assumed 
the vague title, " King of the Lombards." 




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THE EMPIRE IN GERMANY AND ITALY 77 

when only sixteen, and who was, by universal testimony, in- 
competent and personally degraded. Had Otto failed to inter- 
fere in Rome at this time, in all probability the Papacy would 
have sunk so low in the world's esteem, that only a miracle 
could have restored its lost authority. 1 

In 961, Otto I descended the Alps, a mighty German army 
thundering at his heels and bearing down all opposition. The 
astonished Italians bent before the shock. At Pavia, Otto was 
crowned with the "Iron Crown" of Lombardy. He then 
pressed on to Rome. John XII negotiated with him and pro- 
mised him fair. Otto entered the Eternal City, and on Feb- 
ruary 2, 962, like Charlemagne, he knelt before the Pope, 
under the eyes of the multitude, and arose "Imperator 
Augustus," "Lord of all the World." The Holy Roman Em- 
pire had been revived as an adjunct now of the German 
kingship. 

Otto soon turned back toward the north, having no intention 
of taking permanent residence in Rome; but hardly was he 
departed ere tidings came that the slippery John XII was 
negotiating with the Emperor's enemies. Otto marched back 
on Rome, and found the Pope had already fled to the mountain 
fastnesses. Acting now in his capacity as Roman Emperor, — 
God's deputy to rule alike in Church and State, — Otto pro- 
ceeded to put the absent Pope on trial. Abundant evidence 
was presented that John was a totally unfit pontiff, of iniquit- 
ous and unchurchly private life. Otto declared him deposed, 
and on his own authority appointed a successor (Leo VIII). 
After the Emperor left the city, the faction of John called the 
outlaw back, and it took still a third visit of Otto to make his 
appointee finally recognized. 2 From this time till his death 
(973), Otto was the unquestioned dominator both of Germany 

1 The desperate state of the Papacy at this time is freely conceded by Catholic 
writers: in fact, it is argued that only an institution ordained of God could have 
survived such a terrible period of humiliation. 

2 John was murdered in Rome in a private quarrel, ere Otto's return. 



78 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



and Italy, and all-potent in the government of the Church. 
His reign ended in a great blaze of glory. 

Otto had thus restored the Holy Roman Empire, and had 
taken drastic measures for the renovation of the Church. His 
Empire lacked, however, one great unit of Charlemagne's 
dominions — France; and he had brought about an unnatural 

yoking of Italy and 
Germany, a union 
which wrought no 
real benefit to either. 
38. The Succes- 
sors of Otto I (973- 
1039). Otto I, or 
" The Great," as he 
was not unjustly 
styled, was succeeded 
by his son and then 
by his grandson (Otto 
II and Otto III), but 
neither of these men, 
though not lacking 
ability, reigned long 
enough to do more 
than keep the power 
of the Saxon dynasty 
partially intact. The 
death of Henry II (1024) (a distant nephew of Otto I) left 
the Saxon house without a suitable candidate for the throne; 
and the nobility of Germany chose Conrad II, who began 
the line known as the Franconian or Salian Emperors. Dur- 
ing all this time the German monarchs had interfered inter- 
mittently in Italy, but never really effectively. The will-o'- 
the-wisp of a coronation at Rome and a great lordship in the 
South kept them from concentrating their efforts on Germany 




AN EMPEROR (OTTO III) 
(From a miniature in the Bamberg Evangel). The 
Emperor holds in one hand the scepter, crowned with 
the imperial eagle; in the other the orb, bearing a cross, 
the symbol of domination over the Christian world 



THE EMPIRE IN GERMANY AND ITALY 



79 



and fairly crushing the feudal disintegration there. On the 
other hand, they could not impose their power on Italy com- 
pletely enough to restore law, order, and prosperity to that 
troubled peninsula. Between Italians and Germans there was 
little sympathy: it was an anomaly, indeed, that the king 
elected by the Northern nobles should be calling himself " Holy 
Roman Emperor " : but the 
German rulers never dis- 
owned this proud ambition, 
nor could the Italians resist 
them. The condition of the 
Church was still corrupt 
and worldly, and the Papacy 
was in no condition to resist 
the constant interference of 
the Emperors in its affairs : 
— the "rule of Christ by 
Caesar," as was complained 
by angry but helpless 
churchmen. 

39. Henry III, the Pope- 
maker (1039-56). The 
power of the Empire over 
the Church seemed at its 
height when, in 1046, Henry 
III, a valiant and worthy 
monarch, held a synod at 
Sutri (near Rome) , at which three warring claimants to the 
Papacy were obliged to present themselves, and to allow him 
to pass upon their cases. All three would-be pontiffs were 
declared deposed, 1 and Henry deliberately appointed a new 
Pope even as he would a palace minister. For the rest of his 




THE EMPEROR HENRY IV KNEELING 

BEFORE THE COUNTESS MATILDA AT 

CANOSSA IN 1077 

{From a miniature in a biography of the 

countess, finished 1114, and now preserved in 

the Vatican Library at Rome) 



1 There seems little doubt that they were all very unfit men for a great spiritual 
office. 



80 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

reign the Papacy was practically another great imperial office, 
and seemed likely to continue so for all time. 1 If this had 
come to pass, the German monarchs would have been Emperors, 
indeed, — controlling both Church and State. 

But even in Henry's own time events were tending to under- 
mine this power. Starting from a famous and sternly disci- 
plined convent in South France — Cluny — a new spirit of 
righteousness had been sweeping over the Church. One of the 
very Popes named by Henry (Leo IX, 1048-54) was an ardent 
reformer who paved the way for a great revival of papal power 
in the next generation. When the Emperor died (1056) he 
seemed, however, to leave his six-year-old son (Henry IV) a 
solid lordship over Church and State. As a matter of fact the 
hold of this boy upon the secular government was to prove 
very precarious, and he was to lose his grasp on the Church 
almost entirely. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Henry the Fowler; Stem-Duchy; Diet; Magyars; Otto the 
Great; John XII; The "rule of Christ by Caesar"; Synod of Sutri; 
Leo IX; Cluny. 

'2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Hungary; Danube, Unstrut, and Lech rivers. 

(b) Mark the stem-duchies; the marks. 

(c) Mark the" bounds of Otto's Empire. Compare it with Charle- 
magne's. 

3. Note the interval between the conquest of the Saxons and the choice 
of a Saxon as King of Germany. 

4. How were the kings chosen in Germany? 

5. How did Henry prepare to defeat the Magyars? Compare with the 
defense of West Frankland against the Northmen as described in 
chapter vn. 

6. Compare the coronations of Otto and Charlemagne as to circumstances 
and results. 

7. What were Otto's relations with the Popes? 

8. What seemed to be the tendency in Henry Ill's time as to the relative 
powers of the Emperor and the Pope? 

1 For a long time the kings had been naming the great prince-bishops, and 
treating the Church offices as if they were so much valuable political patronage, 
to be given to worldly-minded adherents. 



THE EMPIRE IN GERMANY AND ITALY 81 

EXERCISES 

i. Describe the conditions in Italy during the period. 

2. Why was the "yoking of Germany and Italy" an "unnatural" one? 

3. The Popes of the tenth century. 

4. What was the effect of Otto's coronation as Emperor upon the powers 
of the German kings in Germany? 

5. The separation of the Greek and Latin churches. 

6. The aims of the Cluny reform. 

READING 

Sources. Ogg: chapter xv, section 42. Robinson: nos. 102-04, 106. 
Modern Accounts. Emerton: Mediceval Europe, pp. 115-26; 141-43. Be- 

mont and Monod: chapter xvn, pp. 345-46. Seignobos: pp. 95-97. 

Lewis: pp. 1 14-61. Pattison; pp. 58-68. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE RISE OF THE FRENCH KINGDOM 

40. The founding of the Capetian monarchy. The eastern 
portion of Charlemagne's Empire rid itself of the rule of his 
unworthy descendants long before they ceased to reign in the 
West. This was partly because the later Carolingians in those 
regions were not so degenerate and exhausted as in the East, 
partly because in the western fraction of the old Empire there 
was no great local power to assume the leadership, as did the 
Saxon duchy in Germany. Yet in just a century after the 
deposition of Charles the Fat (the last ruler of the undivided 
Carolingian Empire) , the reign of the Carolingian kings ceased 
also from over the West Franks (987). West Frankland or 
Neustria ended its annals. A new dynasty — the Capetian — 
arose, ruling a kingdom that speedily was known by a new 
name — France. 

For at least a hundred years before they fairly displaced 
the Carolingians, the Capetian princes had been uncomfortable 
rivals or doubtful vassals. Odo (or Eudes), Count of Paris, 
one of the founders of the line, had distinguished himself by 
his gallant and successful defense of Paris against the North- 
men (885) . After the deposition of Charles the Fat he had been 
recognized as king by many of the nobles of Neustria, but the 
time was not ripe to do away with the old dynasty. During 
most of the troubled tenth century, kings of the ancient line 
held the dubious allegiance of the West Franks. Odo's descend- 
ants (the " Dukes of France," with their power centered at 
Paris) were among the chief of these weak sovereigns' unruly 
liegemen. The authority of the Carolingian kings continually 
waned. In 987, it had dwindled almost to a shadow. " Kings of 



THE RISE OF THE FRENCH KINGDOM 83 

Laon " they were contemptuously called, for the one city over 
which they had firmest dominion. At length King Louis V 
died without direct issue. Rather than see the royal name 
pass to his German-bred kinsman, the nobles of Neustria hailed 




FRANCE TO 1270 



as overlord the greatest of their own number. Hugh Capet, 
Duke of France (987-96), was proclaimed king. His descend- 
ants were destined to reign in France until 1792. 1 

1 There are scions of this royal house living to-day, eager to claim the throne 
of France, if that great nation ever decides to abandon her present republic 
for a monarchy. 



84 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

41. The mediaeval Kingdom of France — its weakness. It 

was almost a tinsel crown which the Archbishop of Rheims 
(the first churchman of the realm) put on the head of Hugh 
Capet. To buy the support of the nobles he had been forced to 
make great concessions of land and authority. Nowhere was 
the feudal system, with its " organized anarchy," its system of 
great principalities and little baronies, more perfectly developed 
than in the country over which he was nominally the chief. 
Theoretically Hugh inherited the vast powers of Charlemagne ; 
practically he was only the most honored among several hun- 
dred barons who called him " sovereign lord," more because 
they desired a check upon one another than because they 
wished to have any effective king over them. He possessed 
some real authority over his old " Duchy of France," the land 
immediately around Paris, known commonly as the " Royal 
Domain Lands." 1 Outside of this region he had practically no 
power. The great Dukes of Normandy, Burgundy, and Brit- 
tany and the equally lordly Counts of Flanders, Champagne, 
and Vermandois could each put as many armed retainers in 
the field as he, and never hesitated to fight him when they 
harbored a grievance or an ambition. In the south of his 
nominal kingdom, the Duke of Aquitaine and the Count of 
Toulouse ruled over a folk who differed in language 2 and local 
customs from their northern neighbors, and usually did not 
trouble to give the king even outward homage. Besides these 
first named, a host of lesser counts, viscounts, and barons " ruled 
by the Grace of God," coined their own money, quarreled or 
made peace with one another, tyrannized over their subjects; 
in short, performed all the acts of petty sovereigns with prac- 
tically no heed to the wishes of " their lord the king " at Paris. 

1 This whole territory was probably no larger than the small State of Massa- 
chusetts, and even within it were a good many barons who — secure in their 
castles — obeyed the king only intermittently. 

2 The "Languedoc" tongue of South France, as against the "Languedoil" of 
North France. 



THE RISE OF THE FRENCH KINGDOM 85 

Under these circumstances the marvel is that the new 
dynasty of Capet ever built up an effective kingship ; yet this 
was the case. Out of this feudal chaos arose the majestic mon- 
archy of France; and to this end many factors contributed. 

(a) While various barons were continually resisting the 
king, the scattered princes seldom could forget their own feuds 
enough to unite against him. He had the support of some 
vassals in almost every war. 

(b) The Capetian kings were highly fortunate in never 
lacking a direct heir down to 1328. The reigning king could 
always present a son eligible for election by the nobles and 
coronation as co-king in his own lifetime. 1 There were no dis- 
puted successions, no wars within the royal family. Men 
became accustomed to the idea of a Capetian king as the one 
possible ruler of all France. 

(c) While several of the Capetian kings were not conspicu- 
ously able, none was entirely unworthy to rule, and several 
(and those in the most critical years) were sovereigns of 
marked capacity. 

(d ) The kings very early put themselves on friendly terms 
with the Church. They avoided the great collisions with the 
Papacy which in the end ruined the rulers of Germany. The 
average feudal lord oppressed his neighboring bishop or abbot; 
the king would come to the latter 's relief; the church repaid 
this protection by giving its own potent support to the king 
against his vassals. 

(e) As time elapsed and the lower non-noble classes, espe- 
cially the dwellers in the towns, strove for personal and local 
liberties, they found a champion in the king against their 
baronial lords. The king reaped his reward in the subsidies his 

1 Note that for long the monarchy in France, as in Germany, was theoretically 
elective, with the great nobles as the electors; but about 1200, it was so firmly 
understood that only a Capetian could succeed a Capetian, that the election itself 
became unimportant, and insensibly hereditary succession was established in its 
stead. 



86 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

new subjects were glad to pay him; and money has always 
meant power. 

(/) While the Capetian Dynasty lasted, many feudal dynas- 
ties disappeared ; family feuds, local feuds, crusading warfare, 
and many other calamities carrying them off. The king claimed 
the vacant fiefs, and there were few able to gainsay him. 

Thus from a dismal abyss the new French monarchy strug- 
gled upward to greatness. 

42. The first phases of the monarchy. During the century 
following the accession of Hugh Capet the new kings barely 
held their own, with their authority seemingly little more than 
a shadow. Duke William of Normandy, after his conquest of 
England (1066), appeared a far more important and powerful 
personage than weak Philip I, who dwelt at Paris. In fact, the 
acquisition of the English kingdom by the mighty Norman 
princes might well forebode the moment when these duke- 
kings would either disavow their allegiance to France alto- 
gether, or else seek to displace the Capetians, as the latter had 
displaced the Carolingians. This moment, however, never 
came. The Norman kings of England had their own wars and 
troubles beyond the Channel. In France they did not lack 
jealous fellow-princes who supported the king against them. 
The Kings of France were too weak and preoccupied to take 
part in the earlier crusading movements, which were engross- 
ing almost all the energies of France, but they at least kept 
their domain-land and their nominal prerogatives uninjured. 

Early in the twelfth century there came to the throne a wise 
and energetic king, Louis the Fat (1 108-37) • There was nothing 
sluggish about him but his physique. With admirable firmness 
he crushed out the petty barons who defied his power near 
Paris, and gave his domain-land law, order, and a wise admin- 
istration. This was the foundation for later development; but 
first the kingdom must pass through a sore ordeal in the days 
of the inefficient Louis VII (1137-80). 



THE RISE OF THE FRENCH KINGDOM 



87 



In 1 1 54, Henry II became King of England. He was far 
more than that; by inheritance or marriage he was simul- 
taneously Duke, or feudal Lord, of Normandy, Anjou, and 
Aquitaine, and many adjacent lands — i.e., of nearly two thirds 
of the great states of France. He was a. man of remarkable 
ability and corresponding vigor. That such a ruler irked at 
doing homage for his great French holdings to the feeble ruler 
at Paris passed without saying. The natural thing to expect 
would be for him to try to unite his English and French lands 
into a single independent realm. 




GENERAL VIEW OF THE LOUVRE AT THE TIME OF PHILIP AUGUSTUS 

(1180-1223) 

(Restored.) The Louvre at this time was part palace, part fortress. It occupied 
roughly the space of the great court of the Louvre of to-day. Of the building here 
shown only a few fragments of wall and the foundations now remain. 

43. Philip Augustus, maker of France. Again the good for- 
tune of the Capetians saved them. Henry had his heavy 
troubles with his English subjects. His own sons also raised 
war against him, and always found refuge and help awaiting 



88 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

them at Paris. His lesser barons had their turn at revolting. 
In 1 1 80, there came to the throne of France the man who was 
to see the ruin of Henry and his empire. Philip Augustus 
(1 180-1223) was perhaps the ablest monarch of the whole 
French line. Admirable'his character was not. He was cold, 
sly, tortuous, unscrupulous. He was no mean warrior, but he 
preferred to conquer by intrigue. No great leader ever com- 
bined the fox and the lion more successfully than he. During 
the first part of his reign he artfully hindered every attempt of 
the English-Norman princes 1 to destroy his frail monarchy; 
in the second part he turned and rent them. 

So long as Henry II of England lived, the best that Philip 
could do was to support his rival's undutiful sons against their 
father, and keep his own dominions intact; but in 1189, Henry 
died, leaving his vast but scattered possessions to his son, 
Richard the Lion-Hearted, a mighty champion in all knightly 
warfare, and withal a very competent general after the rough- 
and-ready mediaeval sort, but by no means a great statesman. 
In company with Philip, Richard went on the Third Crusade 
to recover Jerusalem. The two kings set forth as friends, but 
soon drifted asunder, and quarreled bitterly. Philip promptly 
came back to France, leaving his rival in Palestine, and busied 
himself undermining Richard's authority among his vassals. 
After long delays the valorous crusader returned, 2 and in his 
lifetime Philip made little headway in his warfare, but in 1 199, 
Richard was slain before a South-French castle, and his power 
passed to his worthless and incompetent brother John, who 
soon drove his English subjects into revolt by his tyranny, 
and had little means or energy left to resist Philip in his French 
dominions. 

1 Henry II and his immediate successors are often called the "Angevin 
Princes" in the histories, having derived their origin from the County of Anjou. 

2 Richard was captured and held prisoner, while en route homeward, by Duke 
Leopold of Austria, his enemy, and only released upon a heavy ransom. All 
this, of course, greatly aided Philip. 



THE RISE OF THE FRENCH KINGDOM 



89 



Now was the Capetian's opportunity; and he used it val- 
iantly. John's crimes toward members of his own family had 
alienated most of his French vassals and former supporters. 
Philip was able to besiege the great fortress called Chateau 
Gaillard, the key to all Normandy, and its capture (1204) was 
followed by the submission of all of the old Norman duchy. 
John's lands to the southward were mostly overrun with 
surprising ease; and the wide dominion of Henry II crumbled 
away in a very few years. 

One last effort, indeed, John made. In 12 14, he induced 
an army of his allies, the Princes of Flanders and many Ger- 
man knights, led by their 
Emperor Otto IV, to at- 
tempt a formidable inva- 
sion of France from the 
North. But Philip's suc- 
cesses had awakened a 
great burst of national 
feeling and of per- 
sonal loyalty among 
the French. * He 
called to his sub- 
jects for help and 
not in vain. Barons 
and city-folk united 
under their king to beat back the invader. At Bouvines (1 214) 
Philip won a truly memorable battle over the Germans, and 
the foreign peril passed. His reign ended (1223) with the 
Capetian power ascendant and expanding. 

44. St. Louis confirms the French monarchy. Under Louis 
IX, better known as St. Louis (1226-70), the work of Philip 




A KING'S DEATHBED 
Bishops and abbots attending. (From a twelfth- century 
manuscript) 



1 Philip, as an organizer of the lands he had won, was no less great than as a 
conqueror. He was able finally to command the whole resources of his realm, as 
had almost no monarch since Charlemagne. 



go 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



was confirmed and strengthened. St. Louis was one of the 
most admirable characters produced by the Middle Ages. He 
was possessed of all the piety and semi-monkish virtues so 
admired at the time, and has been justly canonized by the 
Church. He went on two unsuccessful crusades, in which he 
displayed exceedingly poor generalship, but at home it was 

otherwise. In France he was a 
highly effective ruler, often hiding 
the iron hand under the velvet 
glove; making the high barons 
deal justly with their own under- 
vassals, discouraging the barba- 
rous " wager of battle," and often 
substituting his own more right- 
eous " royal jurisdiction " for the 
feeble and frequently perverted 
law-courts maintained by the no- 
bility. He kept practically all the 
lands acquired by Philip and added 
to them; but above all, he estab- 
lished conditions akin to genuine 
law, order, and justice throughout 
their length. During a long reign 
men were taught to love their king as the true model of all 
knightly and princely, as well as churchly, qualities. The same 
ruler who piously and tenderly distributed bread each morn- 
ing to the poor before his palace gate, was stern justice incar- 
nate when it came to insisting on his kingly rights as against 
malcontent barons and prince-bishops. His position as a man 
of surpassing piety was such that Popes listened humbly 
to his lecturings upon their shortcomings. The moral value 
of such a reign, of " a great king ruling in righteousness," 
was incalculable. " Sons of St. Louis " his successors proudly 
called themselves. And in addition to the religious prestige 




LOUIS IX OF FRANCE 
(Painted on glass in ihe Cathedral 
of Chartres, France) 



THE RISE OF THE FRENCH KINGDOM 91 

thus acquired, there came remarkable advantage to the 
monarchy from the fact that St. Louis was a really con- 
structive statesman. In his day was fairly organized the 
" Parliament of Paris " — the highest court of France, while 
the scientific law codes of the old Roman Empire in part dis- 
placed the old " customs " of feudalism, with their premium on 
confusion and misrule. In short St. Louis rendered his king- 
dom a service which most happily completed the consolidat- 
ing process begun by Philip, his grandfather. 

In 1 180, the Capetian monarchy had seemed on the verge of 
destruction. In 1270, it controlled a great dominion, with 
large revenues, a great corps of royal officers, and a compli- 
cated system of government and administration. Its kings 
had won the loyalty of their people by their public and private 
virtues, and by the blessings of the good government which 
they had conferred. France was no longer a confederation of 
feudal states with a nominal overlord. It was a powerful 
nation; the first true nation (in the modern sense) to appear in 
Europe. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Capetian; Odo; Dukes of France; " Kings of Laon"; Hugh 
Capet; Louis the Fat; Henry II; Philip Augustus; St. Louis. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Bouvines; Chateau Gaillard; Paris; Rheims. 

(b) Mark the regions of the great fiefs. 

(c) Mark the lands taken by Philip Augustus from the English 
kings. 

id) Mark the lands still held by England in 1270. 

3. What was the theory as to the choice of the French king? of the 
German? of the English? 

4. How much real power did Hugh Capet have? 

5. Wiry should there have been any difference in language and custom 
between North and South France? 

6. What factors contributed to strengthen the French monarchy. 

7 . Why could the French kings more easily than the German kings avoid 
"great collisions with the Papacy"? 



9 2 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

8. What dangers threatened the Capetian kings up to the time of Philip 
II? How were the dangers avoided? 

9. The battle of Bouvines is sometimes called the " first great international 
battle." Why? Show its importance. 

10. Summarize the work of St. Louis. 

11. Compare the position of Hugh Capet as king with that of St. Louis. 

EXERCISES 

1. The siege of Paris (885). 

2. Compare the displacing of the Merovings by the Carolings with the 
displacing of the latter by the Capetians. 

3. Under such circumstances as described in section 41, what was the use 
in having a king? 

4. Note that in France the lower classes unite with the king against the 
nobles. What was the case in England? Account for the difference. 
What are the results likely to be in both countries? 

5. Philip II as an organizer of his lands. 

6. The character of St. Louis. 

READING 

Sources. Ogg: chapter x, section 29; chapter xix. Robinson: nos. 91-95. 
Modern Accounts. Emerton: pp. 413-22. Bemont and Monod: pp. 390- 

444. Seignobos: pp. 120-25. Duruy: pp. 105-10; 139-65. Pattison: 

pp. 91-113. 



CHAPTER X 



THE CRUSADES 



45. Origin of the crusades. The year 1000 roughly marked 
the end of the lofig period of depression under which the civil- 
ized life of Europe had been laboring. There is no magical 
significance in the date as historians once assumed, but from 
this time onward the conditions of the peoples become stead- 
ily more tolerable, there is more humanity, more intellectual 
activity, less ignorance, and less feudal chaos. The power of 
the Church — at one time the only real influence for good — 
in the early Middle Ages is supplemented by the rise of new 
forces. The feudal states begin to group themselves into mod- 
ern nations. Particularly, as we have just seen (chapter ix), 
one portion of Europe " finds itself," as a proud, patriotic 
kingdom, with a history and a destiny all its own. And in the 
making of this nation of France the crusades played no small 
part. 

The "crusades" are, of course, a series of armed expedi- 
tions conducted by the Christians of Europe against the 
Moslems for the purpose of delivering Jerusalem and the Holy 
Land from the unbeliever. They would probably have come 
earlier, but for two reasons which postponed them until the 
end of the eleventh century: (a) Until that time the Chris- 
tians had been too disunited and weak for any great concerted 
military effort, (b) The Arab " caliphs " in their government 
of Palestine had for long treated the Christian pilgrims 
thither with such tolerance that the latter had no very just 
grievances against them. 1 

1 Of course, at no time did the Christians fail to consider it utterly deplorable 
that the Holy Land should rest in the power of the Infidels. 



94 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

By about 1090, however, conditions were changed, and a 
combination of causes sent the warriors of Christendom, 
particularly those of France, on an expedition which makes 
the earlier efforts of feudal armies sink into insignificance. 
Some of these causes were : — 

(a) The conscience of the age was quickening, as men grew 
morally better. For centuries pilgrims had gone in steadily 
increasing numbers (e.g., a company of seVen thousand in 
1064) to the holy places, impelled by pure religious devotion, 
or seeking to be healed of disease, or to do penance. Nobles 
and peasants convicted of a sense of sin understood no surer 
way of expiation than a pilgrimage to the Saviour's tomb. 

(b) In feudal countries peace and order were beginning to 
prevail to the extent that battle-loving spirits found a lack of 
activity at home. France was overcrowded. There were new 
fields for adventure and new lands to be won in the campaign 
against the infidel. 

(c) The relatively refined and tolerant Arab rulers of Pales- 
tine had been supplanted by the barbarous and intolerant 
Turks, who displayed their fanatical devotion to Islam by 
cruelties practiced upon Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem. 
Honest wrath at these cruelties and a desire for vengeance sent 
many a Western knight upon the Holy War. 

{d) The Papacy was quite conscious of its newly gained 
power, and anxious to earn the prestige of leading a great 
movement of all Christendom for an object accounted excep- 
tionally pleasing to Heaven. 

(e) The Mohammedans were threatening Christian Europe 
again. In Spain, the Christians had been defeated in the great 
battle of Zalacca (1087); in the East, the Seljuk Turks were 
pressing the Empire so hard that the Emperor Alexius I asked 
the Pope for aid. This appeal was the immediate occasion of 
the crusades. 

46. The preaching at Clermont. These were some of the 



THE CRUSADES 95 

motives which were latent or active in men's minds when, in 
1095, Pope Urban II quitted Italy to hold a Church Council 
at Clermont, near the center of France. Already there were 
clear rumors that more was intended at the gathering than the 
mere transaction of ecclesiastical business. A great concourse 
of warriors and noblemen attended the council. With ringing 
eloquence the Pope 1 set forth the desolation of the Holy Land, 
the abominable tyranny of the Turks over the Eastern Empire, 
and the opportunity for his hearers to expiate their own sins 
by a holy war against the infidel. A thunderous shout, " God 
wills it! " answered him. There was a general demand for 
" red crosses " to wear upon the breast, as token of being 
pledged to the " crusade." From Clermont the enthusiasm 
spread over France like wildfire. Stirring preachers, whereof 
the most notable was Peter the Hermit, set all France, peasant 
and noble, to arming. It was the old gospel of Mohammed 
recast in a Christian guise; — pardon for sin and the spoils of 
the infidel if victorious! — a swift road to heaven if slain in the 
battle! Possessed with this hope and enthusiasm, armies to be 
reckoned by the hundreds of thousands were launched upon 
the East. 

47. The leaders of the First Crusade. Some disorderly mul- 
titudes of peasants, who drifted to Constantinople and soon 
were slain by the Turks of Asia Minor, were the precursors of 
four great armies of well-equipped knights and infantrymen, 
who during 1096 were making their way across Europe to 
Constantinople. The crusaders lacked a single chief, — no 
king went on this crusade, — but among the swarm of lordly 
barons who went on the campaign, four great leaders were 
generally acknowledged. 

(a) Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine, considered by 

1 Urban was himself a Frenchman, one of the best Popes of his age, and well 
able to appeal to the gallant instincts of his countrymen. The crusaders were 
assured of extraordinary spiritual benefits and remission of sins while indulging 
in the very thing the fierce barons loved the best, — brisk fighting. 





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THE CRUSADES 97 

some to have been the ablest and most genuinely devout of 
these chieftains. 

(b) Robert of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror, a 
prince very brave in battle, but very inept elsewhere. 

(c) Raymond, Count of Toulouse, a pious but haughty man, 
leader of a great host of the South French. 

(d) Bohemond of Tarentum, leader of those Normans who 
had recently conquered southern Italy and Sicily. 1 He had 
marked courage and skill, but was utterly self-seeking and of 
inferior moral stuff. 

Behind these leaders went a countless host of all sorts and 
conditions of Frenchmen, — great barons, petty nobles, 
peasants, priests, monks, — even women. Possibly 300,000 
souls started on the expedition, though there were by no means 
so many trained warriors. Discipline was direfully lax; the 
arrangements of the commissariat abominable. Probably 
nothing was understood of camp sanitation in Oriental coun- 
tries. The leaders knew very little of strategy; but the personal 
valor of the crusaders was superb. Christian fanaticism was to 
strike Moslem fanaticism; and for the moment the latter was 
to give way. 

48 . The crusaders reach the East. After weary marches by 
devious routes these armies concentrated at Constantinople. 
Their coming was hardly welcome to Alexius, the Greek Em- 
peror, although he had appealed to the Pope for aid against 
the Turks that were harrying his own dominions. He had not, 
however, expected such a horde of importunate Westerners, 
who seemed quite willing to begin the work of slaying infidels 
by first plundering the rich capital of the Greek Christians, 
with whom they had little sympathy. But delicate handling 
induced the crusaders to cross into Asia, there to confront the 



1 He led the only important contingent on this crusade which did not come 
from France, or at least from lands near France. And even he and his men prob- 
ably called Norman-French their mother tongue. 



9 8 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



« D 



•— 1 



Moslem in real earnest. The Turkish Sultan of Asia Minor 
tried to halt their progress. At Dorylaeum (1097) in a great 

battle the Christians 
taught the enemy that, 
with anything like a 
fair field and even num- 
bers, the mailed Western 
knights could scatter 
the light-armed Turkish 
horsemen with terrible 
proficiency. The cru- 
saders were left after 
their victory to strug- 
gle onward, across the 
deserts of southeastern 
Asia Minor, fighting the 
more dangerous enemies 
of hunger and thirst. 
Presently they halted 
before the great city of 
Antioch, the key of 
northern Syria, the cap- 
ture whereof seemed 
absolutely necessary 
ere pushing on to Jeru- 
salem. 

49. The sieges of 
Antioch. Antioch was 
strongly fortified, and 
held by a courageous 
Turkish emir with a 
stout garrison. The 
crusaders had great 
difficulty in pressing the siege, and for a while were in 




/_ 



// .Longitude 



Kingdom of Jerusalem 
1 :| County of Tripoli 

I I Principality of Antioch 

t I County of Edessa 



> East from.Gfeenwich 



LATIN STATES IN SYRIA 



THE CRUSADES 99 

danger of breaking up in despair. Then Bohemond found 
a traitor within the walls; a tower was betrayed, the city 
taken; — but in the orgy following the capture the Chris- 
tians became completely demoralized. Before they had re- 
covered discipline, a terrible danger confronted them. Ker- 
bogha, emir of Mossul, at the head of a vast army of allied 
Turks, fell on them, and drove them to take refuge behind 
the very city walls they had just won from the enemy. In 
the previous siege and sack all the provisions had been con- 
sumed, and soon the whole Christian host was starving. They 
even negotiated with Kerbogha, — offering to abandon the 
crusade, — but he would grant no tolerable terms, believing 
them utterly in his power. In their agony a miracle seemed 
necessary to save them, and the equivalent of a miracle came 
when it was announced by the leaders that the " Holy Lance " 1 
had been discovered, buried under the altar of one of the 
Antioch churches. Heartened by this talisman, the famishing 
Christians issued from Antioch and gave battle to the Turks. 
Fanaticism and desperation worked together to make the cru- 
saders fight as never before. Despite the fact that nearly all 
their horses had perished in the siege, and that the French 
knights had to charge as footmen, Kerbogha's host was ut- 
terly routed. With such a warning it was some time ere the 
Turks dared join battle with these terrible " Franks" again. 
50. The taking of Jerusalem. It was the. spring of 1099 
before the Christians could fairly start southward from 
Antioch on their last great march to Jerusalem. Perhaps not 
more than thirty thousand fighting men were left; but a good 
army is like the fabled serpent; its head dies last. These 
warriors were the best of the whole expedition. They found 
Jerusalem held not by Turks but by the generals of the 

1 Wherewith the Roman soldier is said to have pierced the Saviour's side. 
After the danger was passed, most of the crusaders became convinced that the 
miracle was spurious, but it had entirely accomplished its purpose. 



ioo HISTORY OF EUROPE 

caliph of Egypt, with a garrison greater than the whole cru- 
sading army. The Egyptians, however, were none the less 
infidels, and desperate fighting was still called for; but after 
the experience at Antioch, the Christians were capable of 
everything. On July 15, 1099, after two days of reckless and 
bloody attack, the Holy City was stormed. The crusaders 
showed their " piety " by a terrible massacre of the Moham- 
medans within the walls. In Solomon's Temple, " our men rode 
in the blood of the Saracens up to the knees of their horses," 
wrote one of the conquerors. While the massacre still lasted, 
anxious ' ' to thank God for their victory, ' ' Godfrey and his 
peers hastened to pray at the Holy Sepulcher. The First 
Crusade had succeeded. 

51. The Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem. Thus came into 
being the mediaeval Kingdom of Jerusalem, with various 
dependent principalities. It embraced the old Palestine of the 
Jews plus a narrow strip northward along the Syrian coast up 
to and including Antioch. It was a feudal state organized on 
the model of France, with its ruling population made up of 
barons of the regular mediaeval type, who had lost none of their 
belligerent Norman, Flemish, or South French propensities 
because they had " taken the Cross " and emigrated to the 
Holy Land. These barons owed very wavering allegiance to 
the " king " l they had set up in Jerusalem. There were several 
semi- independent outlying principalities, — e.g., those of the 
Counts of Tripoli, and the Princes of Antioch, — and of vari- 
ous lesser barons who ruled their castles with scant heed of 
their nominal overlord at Jerusalem. The lower population 
was made up of native Syrian Christians, of a certain number 
of Moslems to whom a grudging toleration was extended, and 

1 Godfrey of Bouillon, the first sovereign of Jerusalem, took only the title of 
"Baron of the Holy Sepulcher" — refusing to be called "king" where his 
Saviour had been crucified; his less modest successors accepted the royal title. 
His reign and the next one following were taken up in the conquest of most of 
Palestine. 



THE CRUSADES 



101 



divers European pilgrims of the baser sort who were induced 
to settle in Palestine. This kingdom, then, was a hybrid in the 
East; a European colony in a hostile Asiatic environment, 
differing utterly in laws, customs, religion, from the nations 
adjoining. It speaks highly for the valor and ability of the 
crusaders that they were able to hold Jerusalem for eighty- 
eight years. 
Various reasons enabled the Christians to do this : — 

(a) The great personal 
valor of the Western knights, 
who repeatedly, with inferior 
numbers, outmatched the 
huge armies of the lightly 
armed and ill - disciplined 
Moslems. 

(b) The divisions of the 
Mohammedans among them- 
selves. The Arabs were at 
strife with the Turks; the 
Egyptians with the Syrians. 
Down to 1 140, the Orientals 
could hardly unite against 
the European invader. 

(c) The constant influx of 
pilgrims to Palestine from Europe, who, now that the way had 
been opened, came in considerable numbers, and were glad to 
join military exploits against the infidel with acts of piety at 
the Holy Places. Very important help, too, came from the 
rising commercial cities of Venice and Genoa, that found in 
Christian Palestine a great center for their trade. 

(d) The great strength of the castles erected by the Chris- 
tians in Palestine. Some of these castles, held by the feudal 
barons, were marvels of the military art of the time, and could 
defy vast armies, though held by only small garrisons. 




BATTLE BETWEEN CRUSADERS AND 
SARACENS 

(From a stained-glass window in the A bbey 
of Saint-Denis, now destroyed. After Mont- 
faucon) 



102 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



(e) The development of the military orders of monks 

(especially the li Knights of the Hospital " and the " Knights 
of the Temple"), who, to most of the usual monkish vows, 
added the duty — very congenial in the Middle Ages — of 
righting the unbeliever. These valorous monks were mighty 
helpers to the hard-pressed Kings of Jerusalem. 

52. The later crusades. The First Crusade had founded the 

kingdom, but ere half 
a century had passed 
(1144) the Moslems 
regained Edessa, a 
strong town that had 
protected the Chris- 
tians of northern Syria. 
The rulers of Jeru- 
salem trembled for 
their safety and be- 
sought help from Eu- 
rope. St. Bernard of 
Clairvaux (the great- 
est churchman of his 
age) preached the Sec- 
ond Crusade. The 
Kings of France and Germany headed the great expedition, 
but it was a sorry failure. Bad strategy, ignorance of the best 
routes, and general incompetence destroyed most of the army 
on the way. The remnant accomplished nothing in Palestine. 
The Moslems continued to grow in power almost unchecked. 
In 1 187, came the catastrophe which had been impending. 
The Mohammedans were united under a wise and energetic 
ruler, the famous Saladin. Near old Nazareth, in Galilee, he 
defeated and took prisoner Guy, King of Jerusalem. The Holy 
City itself was forced to capitulate. Europe was horrified to 
hear that the Sacred Places were again polluted by the infidel. 




MILITARY AND CIVIL COSTUME IN THE TIME 
OF RICHARD I 



THE CRUSADES 



103 



Again the crusade (Third Crusade) was preached, and kings 
and barons responded. Frederick Barbarossa of Germany led 
a great host to the East, and might have accomplished much 
(he was a skilled and respected general), but he was drowned 
accidentally in Cilicia. Richard the Lion-Hearted of England 
reached Palestine and won notable successes against Saladin. 
He recaptured Acre (the port of Palestine, and next to Jerusa- 




THE CASTLli OF KRAK, SYRIA 
{Restored ; after Rey.) This fortress was erected by the Hospitalers at the beginning 
of the thirteenth century, on a height dominating the pass between the Orontes valley 
and the Mediterranean basin. 

lem its chief city) and displayed his knightly valor in a manner 
which struck terror into the Moslem. 1 But his quarrels with 
King Philip Augustus of France hampered his efforts to retake 
Jerusalem. In 1192, he sadly made peace with Saladin and 
departed from the East. The Christians had not won back the 

1 It was said that for many years the Turkish women would name Richard as 
a bogey-man wherewith to frighten their disobedient children. 



104 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Holy City, but they still held a long, thin strip of the coast of 
Syria from Cilicia down to Egypt, and men hoped for yet 
another crusade that would undo the disastrous battle near 
Nazareth. 

Such a triumph never came. Once more a crusade (commonly 
called the Fourth Crusade) was preached in 1202, and might 
have accomplished much had not the Venetians 1 in an evil hour 
persuaded the princely leaders to attack Constantinople in the 
interest of certain claimants to the throne of the now feeble 
Greek Empire. This attempt ended in the actual seizure of the 
throne of Constantinople (1204) by a Western prince (Count 
Baldwin of Flanders), the plunder of the magnificent and 
wealthy city by the invading harpies, — who thus eternally 
defiled their pretensions to piety, — and the diversion of the 
great trade of Constantinople to Venice, an object the canny 
merchants of that city had always kept in view. A blow was 
given the old East Roman or Greek Empire by this foul shock, 
from which it never truly recovered; but the Western Latins 
were not able to retain their grip on the famous capital. In 
1 26 1, the Greeks had regained enough energy to eject the 
successors of the crusaders, and restore — in a very tottering 
manner — their empire. The whole issue of the Fourth Cru- 
sade was, then, not to regain Jerusalem, but to make the Greek 
Christians of the East hate their Latin brethren of the West 
with a bitter hatred (which they keep unto this day), almost 
greater than that which they reserved for the Mohammedans. 

This was not the last crusade, but it was the last that had a 
serious chance of success. The Mohammedan states of Syria 
and Egypt were again become too powerful, and the Chris- 
tian leaders lacked the military skill and local knowledge of 
Oriental conditions needful for victory. In 1229, the Christians 
gained Jerusalem under a treaty, but soon lost it (1244). In 

1 Who had supplied the crusaders with transport ships, and to whom they 
were therefore much beholden financially. 



THE CRUSADES 105 

1248, St. Louis of France (Louis IX) made a brave but fruitless 
attempt to win Palestine by first conquering Egypt. His army 
was destroyed, and he himself taken prisoner. When he died 
in 1270, at Tunis, in northern Africa, on a second expedition, 
the crusading spirit had spent itself. Men had found other 
ways of satisfying their consciences than by armed expeditions 
to the Holy Land, and princes were too busy with their national 
conflicts to listen to the call of the Popes to a new "Sacred 
War." 

In 1291, the Moslems took Acre, the last Christian fortress 
in Palestine. 

53. The results of the crusades. Millions of persons, Euro- 
peans and Orientals, lost their lives in these crusades and the 
continual lesser warfare accompanying them; and the Holy 
Land was not really regained. Nevertheless, the result of these 
vast movements was not unmitigated evil and misery. 

(a) Although the kings had joined in some of the crusades, 
the bulk of the fighting and of the loss fell upon the feudal 
nobility. Feudalism was weakened by the destruction of 
many princes and barons whose vacant holdings reverted to 
the Crown, thus greatly increasing royal authority. This was 
peculiarly true in France. 

(b) An outlet was provided for the fighting spirit of the age. 
After such enormous effort in warfare a reaction to more peace- 
ful conditions was bound to come. The crusades, then, were a 
real blow to the ceaseless feudal warfare and anarchy. 

(c) Many city communities obtained charters of liberties 
thanks to the fact that their lords were going on a long and 
costly expedition, and needed the subsidies of their subjects. 
The lower classes were thus enabled to buy their emancipation. 
The necessity of the lord was the opportunity of the non-noble 
peasant or townsman. 

(d) Most important of all, the crusades brought the men of 
the West in contact with an Eastern world far superior in 



106 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

many ways to the civilization of their own. Oriental spices and 
carpets, many fruits and vegetables, many manufactured 
articles, such as morocco, muslin, velvet, paper, sugar, etc., 
were very possibly first carried to the West by the returning 
crusaders, who often brought back the secrets of their culture 
or manufacture with them. They thus brought back new handi- 
crafts, new ideas, a wider knowledge of the world in every way. 
The new wants and new ideas also were a notable stimulus to 
commerce and home industry just at a time when Europe was 
beginning to awaken of itself to renewed peaceful activities. 1 
This increasing knowledge of the world with all that went 
with it, was one of the chief factors in hastening the passing of 
the Middle Ages. 

REVIEWS 

i. Topics — Seljuk Turks; Urban II; Clermont; Peter the Hermit; 
Godfrey of Bouillon; "Franks"; Antioch; The Holy Lance; St. 
Bernard; Saladin; Frederick Barbarossa; Acre. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Mark the routes of the first four Crusades. 

(b) Locate Dorylaeum; Antioch; Jerusalem; Clermont; Acre; Pisa; 
Genoa; Venice. 

(c) Mark the Latin states of Syria. 

3. What were the general conditions in Europe at the beginning of the 
crusades? 

4. Why did not the crusades come earlier? 

5. Summarize the causes of the crusades. 

6. Compare the inducements offered the crusaders to go upon a "holy 
war" with those offered to Mohammedans (see chapter iv). 

7. How do you account for the changes in the crusading routes from land 
routes to water routes, comparing the First and Third Crusades. 

8. The organization of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. 

9. Why did the Christians hold the Holy Land for such a long period? 

10. What were the reasons for the failure of the later crusades? 

11. Make a summary of the results of the crusades. 

1 It is hard to trace the exact amount of Eastern culture that came to the West 
through the crusaders: Christian Europe learned much from the Moslems of 
Spain and Sicily, but in any case the crusade factor was the most important. 



THE CRUSADES 107 

EXERCISES 

1. Early pilgrims to Jerusalem. 

2. The story of Peter the Hermit. 

3. The crusaders at Constantinople. 

4. The difficulties of the siege of Jerusalem. 

5. The importance of the commercial cities in the history of the crusades 
and of the Latin kingdoms in the East. 

6. The Assizes of Jerusalem. Compare the feudal system in the Kingdom 
of Jerusalem with the system established in England under William I. 

7. The Frankish castles in Syria. 

8. The military orders — their origin and subsequent history. 

9. Frederick II and the Saracens. 
10. Mediaeval ships. 

READINGS 

Sources — Ogg: chapter xvn; chapter xix, pp. 314-21. Robinson: nos. 

123-33. 
Modern Accounts. Emerton: chapter xi. Bemont and Monod: chapter 
xxii. Seignobos: chapter vni. Archer and Kingsford: all chapters. 
Duruy: pp. 126-34. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 

54. The sea as a factor in English history. In the story of 
the " Building of Europe " one nation stands apart — England. 
Great has been the influence of the sea upon history, but sel- 
dom greater than when twenty miles of stormy water were set 
between the chalk cliffs of Dover in southern England and the 
opposite coast of France. The result of this separation of the 
British Isles from the rest of Europe has been not merely to 
render them far more defensible against invaders, but often to 
sever them from movements of thought and politics in which 
all the Continent more or less shared. England was thus, in 
the main, able to work out its own special national salvation, 
develop its own type of institutions and structure of society; 
and create, in brief, a type of civilization somewhat peculiar to 
itself. This fact had a potent bearing upon the history and 
institutions of nations yet unborn, which were destined to look 
to England as their founder — especially upon the develop- 
ment of the United States of America. 

55. The coming of the Saxons. In Roman days " Britain " 
had been a province of the great Empire, although perhaps less 
deeply permeated by Roman manners and civilization than 
the neighboring lands in Gaul. About 407, the imperial legions 
had been withdrawn to defend the tottering home government. 
The natives appear to have seen their Roman protectors go 
with regret, and they were justified in their feelings. Within 
half a century their island had begun to be a prey to Germanic 
invaders, who went forth to conquer by sea, even as their 
Gothic and Frankish brethren started on their conquering 
migrations by land. 






THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 109 

These Saxons 1 from the shores of Germany were at first a 
race of battle-worthy, untamed barbarians : pagans still, and 
capable chiefly as ravaging destroyers. The struggle began 
about 450, and lasted at least a century and a half. The 
Saxons began most of their invasions on the east coast of 
England, and slowly fought their way westward, in the face of 
desperate resistance from the native Celtic inhabitants. Sev- 
eral times the advance of the Saxons was temporarily halted, 2 
only to be resumed, until by about 600, nearly all the Celtic 
element had been driven into the extreme west of Britain: 
into the gnarled hill country of Wales, and into the peninsula of 
Cornwall. Here, finally, they stood at bay and maintained 
independent principalities for centuries. The Welsh are indeed 
to-day an important factor in British life and still keep up 
their traditions and their Celtic language. But the great bulk 
of the land had passed to the invaders. Roman institutions 
and Roman religion (Christianity) seem to have been thor- 
oughly uprooted. 3 The Saxon tribes had possessed all of 
England (Angle-land), and had given it their own language and 
type of government and society. 

56. The Saxon Kingdoms: the christianizing of England. 
By 600, the Saxon conquest was substantially complete, but 
the invaders were far from having founded a united nation. 
At least seven warring kingdoms possessed the land, and bloody 
and tedious is the tale of their collisions. 4 In the institutions 

1 As a matter of fact, the invaders were of different tribes, but all of the same 
general type and race : — thus we find the Anglo-Saxons and the Jutes all at- 
tacking Britain almost simultaneously, and seizing portions of the soil. 

2 Possibly it was at this time that King Arthur ruled among the native Celts 
and gave a temporary check to the invaders, but the facts of his career are hope- 
lessly shrouded in legend: indeed, it is somewhat hard to prove that he is an 
historical character. 

3 It is generally held that the extermination or expulsion of the romanized 
Celts was so complete that the later England owes very little of its law and civili- 
zation to them. 

4 These kingdoms were Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, Northumbria, East 
Anglia, and Mercia; and this period is often called the time of the " Heptarchy" 
(" Seven Kingdoms "). 




4 Longitude 



West 2° from Greenwich 0° Longitude F.a 



ENGLAND TO 1300 



THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION in 

and laws of these Anglo-Saxons (Angles plus Saxons) can be 
found the germs of very many of the institutions of England 
and America to-day, but the process of tracing them is often 
obscure and difficult. Slowly the seven kingdoms were fused 
into a single monarchy, but considerably before this process 
was completed the Anglo-Saxons had renounced paganism, 
even as had their Germanic brethren on the continent. 

The great Pope Gregory 1 1 sent Augustine and other Roman 
missionaries to England, and in 597, they converted Ethelbert, 
King of Kent. The old heathen worship died hard : there were 
reactions to paganism, and new Christian martyrs. But the 
Anglo-Saxons evidently were already finding their crude 
nature-worship unable to explain the great problems of life 
and eternity. Thus spoke one of " the king's chief men " 
while Edwin of Northumbria deliberated on accepting Chris- 
tianity : " O King, this present life of man seems to me like the 
swift flight of a sparrow, passing through the room where you 
sit at supper in winter: in at one door he comes, then out of the 
other into the storm he vanishes. So is our life. If this new 
doctrine contains somewhat more certain, justly it deserves to 
be folio wed.' ' 

The adoption of Christianity was followed by a remarkable 
building of monasteries which in England as everywhere 
became notable seats of learning. The greatest scholar of the 
age, the "Venerable" Bede (d. 735), was an Anglo-Saxon 
monk of Jarrow. 

By about 829 the process of uniting had gone so far that all 
the seven kingdoms were under the rule of Egbert of Wessex. 
There was now a real English kingdom. 

57. The Northmen and Alfred. Hardly had the new king- 
dom begun to consolidate than sore trials smote it. England 
was now to be invaded by the same Northmen who were 
simultaneously sending their bands against Frankland. The 

1 See section 11. 



ii2 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavian Northmen were, indeed, 
of much the same general stock and origin, but the former had 
been settled a good four hundred years in England, long enough 
to lose many of their savage habits, to change their religion, 
and to acquire the arts of peace. The Northmen came at first 
merely to plunder; then returned to make permanent con- 
quests; and proved themselves often more than a match for 
the less military English. 

For a while, indeed, their onslaughts (which involved a 
return to the worst forms of barbarism and paganism) were 
halted by a very noble ruler, King Alfred of Wessex (871-901), 
who defended his people against great odds for many years, 
and finally compelled the Northmen to settle in northeastern 
England and leave the remainder in peace. Alfred is, indeed, 
a refreshing character to meet in an age of violence and bar- 
barism : a warrior of no mean ability; the builder of a war fleet; 
the promulgator of many beneficent laws for his kingdom; 
the encourager of schools and educational institutions at least 
for the clergy and nobility; the translator of Latin books 
into Anglo-Saxon that his people might possess a desirable 
literature; — all this combined with a humane and genuinely 
Christian character make Alfred one of the rare figures in 
mediaeval history. 

Alfred's son Edward (901-25) and his grandsons reigned 
after him not unworthily; but in 980, when a long line of 
capable kings had degenerated, the Northmen invasions began 
again. The weak "Ethelred the Unready" was on the throne, 
and the work of Alfred seemed speedily undone. 

58. Cnut and Edward the Confessor. The leaders of the 
Northmen were now the Kings of Denmark, and in Cnut the 
invaders had a terribly capable champion. By 1017, he had 
beaten down the resistance of the English and added England 
to his other realms of Denmark and Norway. Cnut, how- 
ever, was no untamed barbarian. His people, through foreign 



THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 113 

contact, were losing their fierceness, and Cnut himself became 
a Christian. During his reign (1017-35) England had what it 
seldom enjoyed before, — relative peace, law, and order. From 
a sadly undeveloped agricultural country, something like 
commerce, industry, and town life began to manifest itself. 
London (already the chief town) rose to new prominence. 
Cnut on his death left only weak successors; and the relation 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY IN THE DAYS OF EDWARD THE CONFESSOR 

(From the Bayeux Tapestry) 

to Denmark was peacefully dissolved in 1042 when Edward 
the Confessor 1 (of the old line of Alfred) was summoned by 
general consent to the throne of his fathers. 

59. William the Conqueror (1066-87). Hitherto England 
had lain too much apart from the main channels of civilization. 
Its Norsemen invaders had been barbarians, less civilized than 
the old inhabitants. The natives had been forced to struggle 
to preserve their own civilization. Now in a drastic but effec- 
tive fashion they were to be brought into contact with the out- 
side world and made to participate in the culture of Europe. 

1 The title of "Confessor" has been bestowed upon Edward in recognition of 
his general piety and extreme devotion to the Church. 



ii 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

The Norman Conquest is almost the keystone of English 
history. 

Edward the Confessor had spent his youth in residence in 
Normandy, and had learned there at the ducal court many of 
the refinements familiar in France, though all but unknown 
among the Anglo-Saxons. A weak prince himself, easily influ- 
enced, his reign witnessed a great flocking of Normans across 
the Channel to his court to receive positions in his govern- 
ment. The Anglo-Saxon nobles naturally resented this, and 
presently forced the king to dismiss most of the foreigners 
from their posts. Nevertheless, ties had been established 




HAROLD SWEARS ON THE RELICS 
While Harold was visiting in Normandy, William [had forced him to 
support his claims to England. {From the Bayeux Tapestry) 

between England and Normandy which were not readily 
broken. When Edward died in 1066, without sons, the Nor- 
man Duke William was ready to claim the succession to the 
English crown on the strength of a promise made him by the 
late king. Edward had no legal right to make such a grant 
without the consent of the Witan (the " Wise Men" <rf the 
realm), but here was a plausible claim for a capable, ambitious, 
unscrupulous warrior. The native party declared for Harold, 
the leader of the Anti-Norman reaction, and a gallant warrior 






THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 115 

and worthy of William's steel. The sword was clearly to be the 
arbiter. 

William assembled his Norman liegemen and a great host of 
French volunteers. The prize was the whole land of England. 
Landing in southern England, the duke soon confronted 
Harold, the new king, at Hastings 1 (October 14, 1066). Seldom 
has there been a more decisive battle, and if victory went to 
the Normans the Anglo-Saxons proved themselves dangerous 
foemen. For long through the day Harold's army of infantry 




THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 

{From the Bayeux Tapestry) 

men with their mighty axes maintained their shield wall against 
the headlong charges of William's mounted knights. Finally, 
the better discipline of the Normans and their great superiority 
in archers gave them the battle. Harold fell, with his two 
brothers and all their bodyguard, battling to the last. It was 
a hard-won victory but decisive. Anglo-Saxon resistance col- 
lapsed. On Christmas Day, 1066, William the Conqueror was 
crowned in London. 

England, on the whole, submitted to William (reigned 1066- 
87) with surprisingly little resistance. There were several fierce 

1 Sometimes known as the battle of Senlac. 



u6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

revolts against his authority, but he crushed them with a 
heavy hand, and the rebels brought about nothing but their 
own ruin, and the confiscation of their estates to reward 
William's Norman followers. A whole horde of military adven- 
turers had accompanied the Conqueror from the Continent. 
He had perforce to pay them by giving them nearly all the 
great offices in the Church and State, and by land grants 
whereby the original English were usually reduced to the status 
of under-tenants of their unwelcome Norman lords. But 







cat &» moUn Ic.^vm fol# y ptfcafiA ie-L^naf, 
*\Ulu tc- UU, lit. TD obo. y c~ (oldi- 

•fxae^<A?)nUto bWcJT -7 lift. ltiXjz u {Xor£ui.i\. 

i3o£.. I b» • 1 1 . fcfu i 7 mo\*n' < be.jOj. (o\Jl.7 til t .'2c «a^ 

S tluA Se. V. t»ore> Values Vm . L^p^rl &t.mo*<>3**-(& 

FACSIMILE OF ENTRIES IN DOMESDAY BOOK 

William had no intention of creating another feudal France, 
where the king's power was at the mercy of the disobedient 
seigneurs. The feudal system never gained the hold upon 
England that it did upon the Continent. William kept a firm 
rein upon his Norman barons, and prevented any one man or 
group thereof from becoming all-powerful. 1 He kept the right 
to tax all his subjects, and in 1086 he produced the " Domesday 

1 Thanks to the fact that England was conquered gradually from the south 
upward, it came to pass that most Norman barons had their " manors " (estates) 
well separated, and not all in one district. A baron could then draw revenues 
from all his lands, but he could not readily assemble all his armed vassals to 
act against the king. This was indeed a mere incident in the conquest, but it 
redounded greatly to the advantage of the monarch. 



THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 117 



Book," a careful record of a survey of the taxable wealth of 
all England. In that year, too, he exacted from all the land- 
holders of England the great Salisbury Oath, by which they 
bound themselves by direct allegiance to the king, and could 
not plead the commands of some intermediate seigneur (as in 
France) if they took up arms against him. 

William the Conqueror, in short, did a most necessary work 
by severe methods. 
The old anarchy of 
Anglo - Saxon days 
was largely ended. 
The " King's Peace" 
and the " King's 
Law " prevailed 
throughout England. 
" Good peace he made 
in this land," said 
the old Anglo-Saxon 
chronicler, who de- 
plored his many 
faults, "so that a 
man might travel 
over the kingdom 
with his bosom full 
of gold without mo- 
lestation." Terrible though this period seemed for the down- 
pressed Anglo-Saxons, nevertheless it cleared the way for 
better things. 

60. The Successors of William (1087-1100). William was 
succeeded by his unscrupulous but not incapable son William 
II (108 7- n 00), l and he by his talented brother Henry I (1100- 
35), under whom began the slow process of reconciliation and 
intermarriage between Norman and Anglo-Saxon. Henry won 

1 Usually known as William "Rufus" (= "The Red"). 




EXCHEQUER TABLE 
{From " The Red Book of the Exchequer Court of Ire- 
land," fifteenth century) 



II! 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



the loyalty of the English by. marrying a princess of the old 
Saxon royal line, and by pledging himself in a charter to restore 
the laws of Edward the Confessor. From his reign also date 
certain important devices for good government which had 
considerable future significance. The king's justice was to 
be secured not merely by the terror of men-at-arms, but 

by traveling judges 
going upon regular 
rounds through the 
country (" justices 
on circuit "), and 
by a sort of high 
court consisting of 
the king and his chief 
ministers. The king's 
money, also, — taxes, 
feudal dues, fines, 
etc., — was to be 
brought in twice per 
year to a meeting of 
the ministers who 
had charge of it, and 
piled upon a table 
which had a checker- 
board cover, to aid 
in counting. From 
this circumstance 
the meeting was 
called the " Exchequer," 1 a name which is sometimes given 
to the British Treasury unto this day. 

Henry was strong enough to enforce his reforms, but under 
his nephew Stephen (1135-54) the lawless barons plundered 

1 The finance minister of England is still called the "Chancellor of the 
Exchequer." 




._._Bounds of the 
English lands in France 
under Henry II. 
He Inherited, through his 
mother,Nurmandy ; and JIaine. 
from Henry I; from his father', 
Anjou and Tuuraine. lie gained 
bj marriage with Eleanor, all 
Aquitaine. He asserted feudal 
rights over Brittany. ^> 

I ! English Land6 by 

the Treaty of Paris 1259 

EZZlPonthie 
after 1279 




ENGLISH LANDS IN FRANCE TO 1300 



THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 119 

and ravaged far and wide, and built up their castles, — after 
the bad fashion in France, — to defy the royal justice. Henry's 
daughter Matilda waged war on Stephen, and finally he 
accepted her son Henry as his heir. This Henry II brought 
back happier days for England. He sternly repressed the 
robber nobles, and restored the reforms of the first Henry, 
while adding yet others. x From his father, the Count of Anjou, 
Henry II had inherited a great dominion in France, 2 and 
much of his time was spent out of England. Even in his 
able hands such a condition worked harm for England, for the 
interests of both nobles and king were continually divided. 
It was a boon for the island kingdom, when, after the in- 
conclusive reign of the brave crusader, Richard I (1 189-99), 3 
his brother John (1199-1216) lost almost all the continental 
possessions, even the ancestral land of Normandy, to the 
wily and able Philip Augustus of France. 4 

1 See p. 122. 

2 Hence he and his descendants were called "Angevin" (Anjou) kings, or 
"Plantagenets," from the broom-plant (Latin, planta genista), which his father is 
said to have worn as a badge. 

3 Richard the Lion-Hearted : for his crusade, see p. 103. 

4 In the reign of Henry II occurred a famous incident which illustrates at once 
the violence and lawlessness of the feudal ages and also the mighty retributive 
power of the Church. Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, and conse- 
quently first prelate of England, a high-minded and aggressive man, had long 
been at odds with Henry II over what he alleged were the king's usurpations of 
the rights of the Church. After a period of banishment, Becket had been 
recalled to his dignities, but his relations with the king again became strained. 
Finally he excommunicated certain bishops who had been firm adherents of the 
king's party. When the news of Becket's deed traveled to France, where the 
king was, Henry burst out in wrath, — "Of the cowards who eat my bread is 
there none who will free me of this turbulent priest!" Four of the royal knights 
took this as a license to commit murder. They journeyed to England, and pres- 
ently forced their way into Canterbury Cathedral, and slew Becket at the very 
foot of the altar (n 70). 

Henry was stricken with horror at the thought of what his partisans had done 
in his name. The Pope excommunicated the murderers, and enrolled Becket 
among the saints. In n 74, to restore himself to the favor of Heaven, Henry 
(though at this time a most powerful and dreaded king) visited Canterbury as a 
barefoot penitent, and at the tomb of the slain prelate implored forgiveness for 
his part in the crime. Then, kneeling against the tomb, he suffered all the 



i2o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

61. The Great Charter {Magna Charta). John did not lack 
a certain frantic energy, but his general character was that of 
a faithless, cowardly, and wholly unscrupulous tyrant. He 
embroiled himself with the great Pope Innocent III, fell under 
the papal anathema, and finally was driven into actually 
confessing himself a feudal vassal of the Papacy. Philip 
Augustus stripped him of his noble French inheritance, — 
Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and Touraine. In England the 
king's blundering despotism alienated almost all his nobles. 
By 1 2 14 he had driven them to desperation, and they met the 
king in arms. 

Already in the century and a half since Hastings the institu- 
tions of " Free England " had begun to shape themselves, 
sometimes on the basis of old Saxon usages, sometimes from a 
modification of feudalism. Now the demands which the mal- 
content barons made upon John were couched in a distinctly 
less selfish and personal spirit than those of ordinary feudal 
revolters. Not because they loved the common people, but 
because they needed their countenance and help against the 
overweening power of the king, the English barons were 
obliged to take the interests of the commonalty somewhat 
into account in the program of reform. John found himself 
for the moment helpless, and " nursing his wrath the tyrant 
summoned the barons to a conference at Runnymede," July 15, 
1 21 5. Here in a meadow near Windsor was sealed by the 
unwilling king Magna Charta. 

Many of the provisions of this famous document have only 
a limited or personal application. It was not a general constitu- 
tion or bill of rights for the realm, and the interests of the 

churchmen present (about eighty) to smite him with their lashes upon his naked 
shoulders, — every monk giving three blows, and every bishop five. 

Becket's shrine became among the most famous in Christendom, miracles and 
wonders were reported to have been wrought at it, and great wealth was bestowed 
upon it. The pilgrimage to "St. Thomas of Canterbury" remained one of the 
most popular of all pious journeyings down to the end of the Middle Ages. 
(Recall Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims.) 



THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 121 



nobility were those most carefully provided for; nevertheless, 
certain fundamental principles therein stated remain the 
basis of Anglo-Saxon " liberty " unto this day. Particularly 
was it provided that no " aids and scutages" (i.e., various forms 
of taxation) should be collected except by the consent of an 
assembly of the feudal lords, 1 and again the king pledged, " no 
man is to be taken or imprisoned [or otherwise molested] except 
by the legal judgment of his equals, and by the law of the land." 
Imperfect as were these provisions, many historians find 







Aut WficAutrfwrno TR^S^^eo^ m*,&m£jutti* torn, i&6tmlti£-$J* 



FACSIMILE EXTRACT FROM MAGNA CHARTA 

the prophecies here for the two fundamental privileges of 
British and American citizens — freedom from arbitrary 
taxation and freedom from arbitrary imprisonment. The 
" Great Charter " deserves its name. 

62. The thirteenth century in England. John died in 12 16, 
utterly discredited and still at war with his subjects. During 
the long reign of his son, Henry III (1216-72), the country 
prospered in spite of the incompetence of the sovereign. For 
a while the barons, led by Simon de Montfort, actually took 
the government into their own hands, defying the king and 

1 This gathering was by no means a representative parliament: but during the 
next century the king's councils and assemblies came more and more to contain 
delegates from all classes of the population. 



i22 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

calling upon the lesser nobles to help them raise the taxes. 
From 1272 to 1307, however, England was in the control of 
one of the greatest statesmen in its long line of kings, — 
Edward I, son of the late Henry III. Following the lead of the 
barons, he called together representatives of the "counties" 
(i.e., local districts) and the towns to meet with his " Great 
Council"; and so began the English Parliament (1295). This 
" Model Parliament" contained two classes, the great nobles 
and the high prelates, who alike received individual summonses 
to come, and the two representatives from each shire (county) 
and borough (incorporated town), who came upon a gen- 
eral summons to the place, ordering it simply to elect depu- 
ties to advise with the king. This distinction marked the 
" Lords" from the " Commons." Only the latter were elected. 
Edward's reason, indeed, for calling in the Commons was 
to get their authorization for taxes. The Commons voted 
these, and in return, although they did not yet claim the 
right to "pass laws," they could "petition the king" for this 
or that favor, and he was under considerable constraint to 
"redress their grievances." Under a weaker king, about a 
century later, 1 the voting of money was actually made condi- 
tional upon the king's acceptance of the "bill" of Parliament, 
which — upon receiving his seal — became a regular part of the 
law of the land. 

63. The origins of the " common law " and of trial by jury. 
As early as the reign of Henry II there are evidences of the clear 
beginnings of certain legal usages which have left their influence 
down to this day. In the twelfth century the legal system of 
England was still in a very unfixed state. Old Anglo-Saxon 
usage had favored the ordeals — e.g., by boiling water or the 
red-hot iron — to decide law suits : the Normans had favored 
the ordeal of wager of battle. 2 Another old Germanic method 

1 Henry IV (see p. 187, note 2). 

2 On " Ordeals," see note at end of chapter 1, p. 8. 



THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 123 

in favor was for the accused to clear himself by getting a certain 
number of his neighbors to swear that they believed him in- 
nocent. If he had thus enough " oath-helpers " he went free. 1 
But by the time of Henry II, the king's traveling (" itinerant ") 
judges were beginning to administer a different system. 

(a) There was the need being felt of a more scientific and 




THOMAS A BECKET DISPUTING WITH HENRY II 

universal set of laws than the old " local customs," which had 
been hitherto applied each in its own petty district. 2 As the 
king's judges went about holding court "on circuit," they 
began to develop a "common law" (i.e., usages and customs 
good for all England). These general laws were worked out 
comparatively scientifically along the line of the old customs, 
but with an improved spirit, thanks to the example of the old 

1 This process was called "compurgation." 

2 The "local customs" were at their worst in France where there were several 
hundred petty codes in as many little districts. 



i2 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Roman law, the study whereof was reviving among the 
learned. This " common law," in short, was so successful that 
it became the basis for all English law of later times, and is the 
fundamental private law of the United States unto this day. l 

(b) In Henry II's reign we hear of the jury. It was then 
used not to try criminals, who must still endure the " ordeal," 
but to accuse them. This was the origin of our modern 
" grand jury." At about this time also we find a jury to settle 
"civil" (private) lawsuits, but it was not until after the or- 
deal had been abolished, in 1 215, that there developed a second 
jury to try criminals after they had been accused by the first 
jury. This new body was called the ''petit jury." All these 
bodies were varieties of an earlier "inquest jury" which 
William I had used to collect information and assess property. 
This body in turn seems to have come from Normandy and is 
very likely traceable back to the old Roman law. So origin- 
ated our system of trial by jury, which is one of the most 
important contributions of England to the world's legal his- 
tory. Hereafter under the new system a man's fate was to be 
settled, not by a superstitious ordeal, or by an official of a pos- 
sibly tyrannous ruler, but by a group of his neighbors and 
peers. A great safeguard, surely, against absolutism! 

By 1300, it is fair to say that the process of blending the 
Saxons and the Normans into one race is practically completed. 
" Norman-French" is still the language of the courtly nobility 
and Latin that of the judges and lawyers, but English — a 
tongue based on the old Anglo-Saxon, but with a great com- 
mingling of Latin, introduced through the Norman-French — 
has become the general language of the now solidified land. 
This new " English " people has ceased to look back to the 
" Conquest" as an age of victory or oppression. The descend- 
ants of the Norman barons feel themselves at home in their 

1 Except in the State of Louisiana, where the basis of the law is not English 
but Roman, derived through the French. 



THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 125 

island possessions; their " tenantry " and " yeomen" no longer 
consider them foreign tyrants. There is a common loyalty 
to the king, to the " English nation," and to the " good old 
customs of England "; above all, there have developed cer- 
tain political and legal institutions which will go into every 
Anglo-Saxon land hereafter. 

By 1300, England, though less populous and wealthy than 
several European countries, had become a well-ordered and 
compact nation, and was able to interfere in the affairs of 
the Continent. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Venerable Bede; Alfred the Great; Cnut; Edward the 
Confessor; Harold; Domesday Book; Itinerant Justices; Jury; Magna 
Charta; Model Parliament. 

2. Geography — Locate, and tell why important: London; Salisbury; 
Runnymede; Canterbury; York; Oxford; Hastings. 

3. By an indication of the general lines of attack adopted by the different 
invaders of England before the Norman Conquest, suggest the influ- 
ence of geographical features on the settlement, invasion, and subse- 
quent distribution of the Romans, Saxons, and Danes. 

4. Would the fact that there was one church with one head in England 
help the unity of the country in Saxon days? In the Norman period? 

5. Compare Alfred and Charlemagne. 

6. The character and work of William I: what circumstances aided his 
conquest? 

7. Magna Charta, — how obtained? its importance and chief provisions? 



EXERCISES 

1. The work of St. Patrick. 

2. The council of Whitby and its importance. 

3. Contrast the England of Edward the Confessor's time with the Eng- 
land of 1087. In what did it differ at this latter date from the duchy 
of Normandy? Why? 

4. The Norman kings and their relations to the Papacy and the national 
English Church. Note especially the work of Anselm and Stephen 
Langton. 

5. Trace the growth of the English judicial system from Henry I to 
Edward I. 



126 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

6. Henry II as king: his difficulties with his sons, his barons, his French 
lands, and the Church? What did his reign really achieve? 

7. Simon de Montfort and his rebellion. What were his ideas of Parlia- 
mentary government? How did they differ from the final results 
under Edward I. 

8. Edward I, "the English Justinian." Show the great importance of his 
reign in the development of the English Constitution. 

READINGS 

Sources. Ogg: chapters v, xi, xiv, xvm. Robinson, nos. 39-42; 94a, 96- 

101. 
Modern Accounts. Bemont and Monod: pp. 124-32; 445-66. Seignobos: 

pp. 147-57. Any good textbook of English history (as Ransome's 

Advanced History of England, pp. 3-205; especially pp. 91-103, and 

i35-8i). 






CHAPTER XII 

LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 

64. The feudal castle. In the Middle Ages there were really 
only three classes of people, — feudal warriors, privileged 
priests, and servile peasants. 1 We will consider now the life 
of the first two of these classes — the only two classes then 
usually reckoned to be of real importance. 

The regular unit of life in the Middle Ages was not the city 
or the open farmstead. It was the feudal castle — a more or 
less pretentious fortification, situated if possible upon a lofty 
hill, and often with a little village of the rude huts of the 
lord's peasants clustered close beside it. During the earlier 
feudal period these castles were of a very primitive nature. 
In most cases they would be simply a single huge wooden, and 
then later stone, tower — round or square, with merely a rude 
palisade with a ditch for outworks. The height would baffle any 
scaling-ladder. There would be no opening in its blank masonry 
until a considerable distance from the ground. Then the nar- 
row door would be entered only by a flimsy wooden bridge, 
easy to demolish, or a frail ladder — drawn up every night. 
Inside this tower there would be a series of dark, cavernous 
rooms, one above another, communicating by means of lad- 
ders. The sole purpose of such a comfortless castle was 
defense : — -and that defense by mere height and mass, 2 not 
by any skill in arranging the various parts. 

1 Any artisans — carpenters, weavers, and the like — would usually be num- 
bered among the peasants, and probably would spend a part of their time in 
agriculture. As for commerce, it had sunk to the importation of a few luxuries, 
— e.g., silks, spices for cooking, incense for the Church. These Oriental wares 
would be supplied through the rare visits to the castles by wandering peddlers. 

2 There were many castles with donjons that rose over one hundred feet high, 



128 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Little by little this simple donjon became more complicated. 1 
The original tower was kept, but only as the last citadel of a 
great complex of fortifications. There developed outer pali- 
sades, moats, flanking towers, gates defended by drawbridge 
and portcullis, a great courtyard surrounded by fairly habit- 
able buildings, with the donjon still frowning down as the 
center of all. Great ingenuity was displayed in making a 
series of concentric lines of defense. To force the outer barriers 
meant simply that you had a far stronger inner bulwark before 
you. The best kind of a mediaeval castle needed only a very 
small garrison. From behind its walls even a petty baron could 
defy a kingly army. 

65. Life in the castle. In this castle (more or less extensive 
according to the power and ambitions of its owner) would live 
the feudal lord (seigneur), his family, and some scores or hun- 
dreds of personal retainers- — men-at-arms, " varlets," and 
serving- women. For a normal mediaeval nobleman there was 
only one legitimate calling — warfare, or the preparation for 
the same. A lad of noble family would only learn to read and 
write by some exception. 2 From his earliest manhood he 
would be taught the use of arms, — to mount a " destrier," 
one of the ferocious war-horses; to leap and strike actively 
in ponderously heavy armor; to handle sword and lance with 
precision. Probably his father would send him to the court of 
his own feudal suzerain to be " nourished " — i.e., taught all 
the things which pertained to a high-born warrior. Here as his 
lord's " squire " he would be given certain lessons in court 

and with walls fully twenty feet thick. At Coucy (in northeastern France), a 
relatively late and highly elaborate castle, was a tower two hundred and ten feet 
high. 

1 Probably the mediaeval castle-builders got many of their ideas of fortification 
through the crusades — from the military art of the East Romans and Moham- 
medans. Castles kept getting more and more complicated down to about 1400. 

2 This was surely true in the earlier Middle Ages; in the later Middle Ages, 
the nobles, of course, became increasingly literate, and presently we find high- 
born scholars and genuine patrons of learning. 



LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 



129 



ceremonial, in the courtesy due noblewomen, the waiting on 
banquets, fetes; but his main education would still be military. 
When about twenty, his training would be complete. He would 
be a first-class warrior now: a match with his great horse and 
formidable armor for twenty less trained and poorly armed 
footmen. His lord at length would give him an elaborate feast, 
where the young noble would be given new spurs and girded 
with a new sword. Finally, the lord would give him the formal 
buffet on the head or shoul- 
der — the accolade. "Be val- 
iant!" he would enjoin. The 
young squire was henceforth 
a "knight." 1 

In due time this youth, if 
an eldest son, might hope to 
inherit his father's castle. A 
younger son must turn adven- 
turer and try to win a vacant 
fief — or a rich heiress — by 
the grace of some prince in 
whose service he fought. The 
times which were spent at the 
castle without actual warlike 
occupation could be whiled 
away by endless hunting, with 
dogs or hawks, with wild feasting (too often turning into 
bestial carousals), or with tournaments — i.e., mock battles, 
in which the element of deadly risk was often great. The 
average feudal seigneur had few enough quiet avocations. 
He might make a winter's evening endurable by playing chess, 
or listening to a minstrel's tale of " the great deeds of Roland 

1 Knighthood was clearly at first only the public recognition that the young 
noble was now a full-fledged warrior. The idea of a religious ceremonial, "chiv- 
alric" vows and duties, an especial blessing by the Church, etc., all came in the 
later Middle Ages. 




A HAWKING PARTY 

{From a thirteenth-century German man- 
uscript in the Heidelberg Library) 



i 3 o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

and Charlemagne "; but he was likely to find such diversions 
weary stuff. 1 

The women of the castle were of like temper with the men. 
The seigneur's dame had probably been married to him by her 
parents while a very young girl, with little heed paid to her 
own wishes. At times he might treat her almost as brutally as 
he did his oafish serving-men; but she in turn would be a 
hardened, masterful woman, well able to chastise her dozens 
of slovenly " weaving- women," and to command the castle 
garrison when her lord was off on the foray. The age was a 
strenuous one, and few weaklings would be able to survive the 
physical perils of childhood. 

66. The relations of suzerain and vassal. Theoretically the 
feudal system was a most humane arrangement between 
" lord " and " man " — of reciprocal loyalty and protection, 
sendee and reward. Actually it put a premium on contention, 
oath-breaking, aggression, insurrection. Practically, every 
" noble " (i.e., member of the feudal fighting class) was a 
vassal 2 of some one, and had vassals under him. The vassal 
was bound to kneel before " his gracious lord," and take oath 
to be a faithful helper in return for the landed fief granted him. 
This was " doing homage." The main duties of a trusty vassal 
were to give his lord good counsel, 3 certain limited money aids, 
and especially to fight for him (along with his own followers) 
so many days each year, and, of course, never to do anything 
to injure the lord's interests. The latter in turn owed his vassal 
" justice and protection." 

1 A list has been made of the possible amusements of a French mediaeval 
seigneur: there are fifteen; these include fencing, playing chess, eating and drink- 
ing, listening to songs, watching bear fights, talking with ladies, holding his 
court, warming himself, having himself cupped and bled, and watching the snow 
fall! 

2 " Vassals " were always noblemen: the term was never applied to peasants 
or townsmen. 

3 Especially in aiding the lord in pronouncing legal judgments, for the ex- 
ecution of which the lord and his advisers were naturally responsible. 



LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 131 

The value of this pact usually depended on the power and 
tact of the lord in enforcing it, and the necessities of the vassal. 
An ambitious, skillful prince could build up a great feudal 
dominion: under a weak heir there would be a general " refusal 
of homage " — the dependent fief would crumble away from 
him. Many a nominally subordinate baron would "hold" 
his various fiefs of two or more suzerains at once — and often 
these might be at war: the result would be that the vassal 
would play off one against the other to his own great advan- 
tage. Often the tv homage " became the merest formality, 
and the vassal was to all intents and purposes an independent 
prince. 1 Then, too, the question of the relation of his vassals 
to the overlord was always a delicate one. The overlord was 
always trying to get away the sub-vassals (of his dependents) , 
so as to have them as his " immediate " (direct) liegemen, as 
being then more subservient and therefore more serviceable to 
himself. " The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal " ran the 
saying. Over these questions of " sub-infeudation " would 
come endless friction. 

67. Feudal Wars. Feudal wars were incessant. Every 
baron was likely to nurse a grudge against his equal, — the 
lord of the next feudatory, — against his suzerain (or suze- 
rains), and against his own vassals, for all kinds of reasons. 
The right of " private warfare " was cherished by even the 
lowest nobles. The Church, aided sometimes by the kings, 
tried to mitigate these local wars by the " Truce of God " 
(cessation of fighting between Wednesday night and Monday 
morning and on holy days) and by various other restrictions, 
but to settle one's troubles with sword and battle-axe was a 
" noble right "; it was really a concession, often, if the contend- 
ing barons fought out their troubles in single combat (the 

1 A case to the point is the story of Geoffrey of Anjou (eleventh century) , who 
captured Thibaut of Blois, forced him to grant in fief his county of Tours, then 
"did homage" to his prisoner. 



132 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



so-called " judicial duel ") before judges who arranged fair 
play, and did not embroil the whole countryside in general 
warfare. 

Quarrels over hunting and fishing rights, over boundaries 
of fiefs, over titles to fiefs, over the division of a fief between 



riMO* ft ' 










1 



SACK OF A VILLAGE 
{From a manuscript of the second half of the fifteenth century, in the Germanic 
Museum. X ur ember g) 

brothers, over the dowry claims of a widowed mother, over the 
right of the overlord to declare a fief vacant — these were a 
few of the pretenses for plunging a community into misery. 
Contrary to general belief, feudal wars saw few great battles. l 

1 Of course, a good many real battles are recorded during the whole course of 



LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 133 

The weaker bands shut themselves up in their castles: the 
stronger party tried to coerce its foes by burning their open 
villages, ravaging their fields, driving off their cattle, perse- 
cuting their peasantry. What fighting there was usually came 
in single combats, raids, ambuscades, or skirmishing on a small 
scale. The main sufferers were the wretched peasantry, the 
helpless prey of either party. At length one party would be- 
come exhausted. Peace would be made — and duly sworn to 
upon the box of holy saints' relics in some near-by church; 
but at any time the feud might be resumed if the formerly 
losing side saw new hopes of victory. There was exceedingly 
little, therefore, that was morally ennobling in this warfare of 
the sometimes-lauded days of " chivalry and romance." 

68. The general wretchedness of feudal life. The feudal 
anarchy was at its worst in the tenth century: from about 
1000 onward matters steadily improved, yet even by 1200 
law and order were woefully lacking in many parts of France, 
not to name less settled countries. It requires some stretch of 
imagination to think of a time when war, not peace, was the 
order of the day, and when to " take one's weapons " was 
almost as usual as to don one's cloak. A journey of any length 
without arms for one's self, and if possible a strong escort, was 
(except for churchmen 1 and ragged peasants) practically 
unthinkable. 

There were many other drawbacks to life in the feudal 
ages, apart from this reign of armed violence. Outside of the 
Church practically all men were illiterate. Great barons and 
peasants alike were victims of crass superstitions. The Church 

mediaeval history. But they are decidedly few, considering the total amount of 
warfare which was going on. When they did occur, they were usually very un- 
scientific; huge bodies of warriors rushed on one another; each man selected an 
opponent; the side which won the majority of the resulting duels would win the 
final day. There are almost no great strategists to be found among the mediaeval 
captains. 

1 Even monks and priests were subject to frequent attack and pillage by 
bandits and barons who defied the thunders of the Church. 



i 3 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

did well to lay great emphasis on the warnings of hell-fire — 
it was only the animal fear of the eternal burning that kept 
many a sinful nobleman within the bounds of decency. Castles 
and hovels lacked the merest rudiments of modern sanitation 
and consequent healthfulness. On the floors of the great halls, 
where the lords and retainers feasted and drank deep, would 
lie a thick litter of rushes, changed only a few times each year. 
Into these rushes would be cast most of the scraps from the 
meal. What the numerous dogs did not devour would there 
remain until the distant day of sweeping. Probably as late as 
1 200, there was not a castle in Europe (even of a great king) 
where a modern visitor would not have been utterly horrified by 
very many matters to offend eyes, ears, and nostrils. Medical 
science was often mere quackery. 1 A great proportion of chil- 
dren were born dead: another great fraction died in infancy. In 
short, thanks to bad sanitation, lack of medical treatment, and 
ignorance of the laws of health, the proportion of persons who 
grew to old age (apart even from those cut off in war) was much 
less than to-day. 

The original feudal castle was merely a cheerless barracks, and 
fortunate it was that the folk of the Middle Ages spent as much 
of their time as possible in the open air. The later castles 
became more livable and in the end — in a crude way — luxu- 
rious, although never really comfortable in the gray days of 
winter. But to the man of modern ideas, the great drawback 
to mediaeval life was its extreme mental limitations and 
monotony, — the lack of most intellectual pleasures, the 
extreme paucity of ideas, the narrowness of the human horizon, 2 

1 The best medical science of the Middle Ages was often derived from the 
Mohammedans, especially the Moors of Spain. Occasionally by the use of com- 
mon sense and rough knowledge gained by experience, a mediaeval doctor could 
accomplish real cures, but the average physician was often an unpunished 
murderer! 

2 A great source of mental narrowness was, of course, the absence of easy 
communication: roads often were mere trails or tracks; dangerous fords in place 
of bridges; no decent inns; robbers everywhere. Practically all commerce had to 



LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 



i35 



the perpetual round of carousing, hawking, boar-hunting, 
tournaments, and downright warfare. It was amid this almost 
soul-deadening monotony that the great seigneur lived. Was 
there, indeed, any escape from such a melancholy stagnation, 
for men of weaker bodies and nobler intellects? The answer 
came — " in the Church." 

69. Life in the Church. From 900 to 1250, or later, the best 
intelligence of Europe was usually in the Church. It absorbed 




A MYSTERY PLAY AT COVENTRY 

the energies which to-day are absorbed, not only by the clergy, 
but by the lawyers, physicians, teachers, and many of the more 
important forms of business. The Church had entered the 
feudal system. Possibly nearly one third of the lands of western 
Europe were held by churchmen — doing homage for them to 
overlords, and receiving the homage in turn of lay vassals. 
Many a dying baron, stricken in conscience after a turbulent 

be by pack-horses instead of carts. Under such circumstances ideas, no less than 
foreign commodities, can be exchanged only slowly. 



136 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

life, had willed most of his estates to some bishopric or abbey 
" for the eternal profiting of his soul." Of course, the " one 
Catholic Church " was the only one allowed to exist by public 
law and public opinion. It was as inconceivable to have two 
permissible religions on earth as to have two suns in heaven; 
and by both secular and church law the stake and fagots 
awaited heretics as certainly as the gallows awaited murderers. 
No one dreamed of having things otherwise. 

The churchmen fell roughly into two great classes — the 
secular clergy, who lived " in the world " and had the " cure 
of souls "; and the regular clergy (i.e., monks subject to the 
monastic rule). 1 The bishops had often great revenues from 
the estates of their " dioceses " (districts): they were usually 
feudal overlords of a considerable principality, and besides 
managing the churches of the region, were immersed in secular 
business. They were often the king's ministers, diplomats, 
and sometimes even leaders of his armies. Men of humble 
birth occasionally rose to be bishops, but as a rule they were 
noble-born, — a bishopric proving a very convenient deposi- 
tory for the younger sons of a noble house when the eldest had 
the principality. The humbler parish priests were usually 
appointed by the rich layman (or his heirs) who had endowed 
the local church, and these priests were frequently peasant- 
born. Compared with the bishops they were inferior, indeed, 
but among their fellow-peasants they were revered, not merely 
as the sacred intermediaries between God and man, but as the 
only individuals, often, in the parish who had the least edu- 
cation, — i.e., could read, write, and speak a little Latin. 

Among the regulars, the abbots of the monasteries often 
had positions of feudal influence almost equal to the great 
bishops. The monks were as a rule more learned than the 
parish priests, because they had less work to do among the laity 
and could devote their leisure to studies. At its worst, the 

1 Compare chapter in, section 12. 






LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 137 

monastic life was said to imply great idleness and gluttonous 
dinners : at its best, a monk was intensely busy with all kinds 
of peaceful arts and with continuous hard study. Neighboring 
abbeys differed often in character. One might be extremely 
lax; the next famous for its learning and pious austerities. 

One thing all churchmen claimed in common: exemption 
from trial in the ordinary lay courts. A priest must be tried 
by his bishop, a monk by his abbot. The Church was, in fact, 
"a state within a state." 

70. The intellectual life of the Middle Ages. Down to about 
1200, almost all intellectual life seemed centered in the 
Church 1 — at first only in the monasteries, which maintained 
schools for the training of their novices or intended priests, 
and later in the schools attached to the great cathedrals. The 
learning preserved in these monasteries was almost entirely in 
Latin, and based either upon the Bible, the early Christian 
writers (the " Fathers "), or upon such old Roman authors as 
Cicero and Virgil. There was exceedingly little originality of 
scholarship, almost no personal investigation of the phenomena 
of nature, and a great willingness to say [e.g.], " thus says St. 
Jerome," and to consider all discussion of the case closed by 
merely citing a time-honored authority. This, of course, often 
led to many absurd notions, when either the ancients them- 
selves were wrong, or when (very often) their real meaning was 
misunderstood. Nevertheless, it was of great merit that the 
monks kept any intellectual life at all in the Middle Ages, con- 
sidering the general storm and stress! Also, it was of no less 
service that the gains for civilization by the ancients were in 
the main preserved until the next age could build a nobler 
civilization upon them. The mediaeval monk, despite his 
slavish bowing to the dicta of " Master Aristotle," 2 his endless 

1 This was so much the case that it was assumed that if a man could read he 
was a "clerk" — i.e., in churchly orders. 

2 Aristotle wrote in Greek; but some of his works had been translated into 
Arabic, and then, by a curious round-about process, into Latin. Other of his 



i 3 8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

parchments upon the obscure mysteries of theology, his hope- 
lessly unscientific " chronicles " which record so imperfectly 
the annals of his own time, should nevertheless be the hero of 
an age when to fix one's ambition on anything save feudal 
glory must have been infinitely hard. 

By about 1200, we find the hitherto despised " vernacular " 
of the laity — French, German, Italian — beginning to 
express itself in literature, but for a long time the stately Latin 
of the mediaeval churchmen held its own as the language of all 
learned men. It had been hardly displaced by the age of the 
Protestant Reformation. l 

71. The Gothic cathedrals. In its own especial way this 
mediaeval society was intensely religious. It showed its zeal 
in a series of great architectural monuments which remain as 
the most glorious witnesses to the best in the Middle Ages. 
The great mediaeval churches cover Germany, Italy, northern 
Spain, England, and especially France. Sometimes great 
barons built them, sometimes bishops or abbeys, but often 
whole communities united in one great offering to God — 
devoting their wealth and energy for a century more or less to 
building a stately cathedral. 2 At first these were in the 
Romanesque (rounded arch) style. After about 11 50, they 
began to rise in the more elegant Gothic (with pointed arches). 3 

writings were available in a sixth-century translation by Boethius. Aristotle 
was the great authority of the Middle Ages in all matters of secular learning. 

1 Among learned men, thanks especially to the influence of the Church, this 
mediaeval Latin came much nearer giving the world a "universal language" than 
anything we have to-day. 

2 A cathedral is, of course, the especial seat of a bishop (his sedes = seat; 
hence the word "see.") Often the ordinary parish churches or the abbey 
churches were built with a magnificence equal to a cathedral. Usually the mediae- 
val cathedrals were undertaken on such a magnificent scale that a whole genera- 
tion could build only a small part of them. It has been well said, "No Gothic 
church has ever been finished!" 

3 More technically, we can say that diagonal ribs are used in Gothic churches 
to hold up the masonry vaulting, so that the weight of the roof is all on the capi- 
tals, none on the walls (which can be very thin, and have elaborate windows). A 
few genuinely Gothic churches have rounded arches. 



LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 139 

The climax came in such French cathedrals as Notre Dame of 
Paris, and, better still, Amiens, Chartres, and Rheims. These 
" symphonies of" stone " — with their soaring towers, lofty 
vaulted roofs, elaborate stone carvings, multitudes of sculp- 
tured saints, vast windows of inimitable stained glass — are 
witness to the truly devout and artistic life that could develop 
in the Middle Ages, and tell us that despite the feudal anarchy 
the forces of civilization and righteousness were winning the 
victory. 1 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Donjon; Squire; Knight; Tournament; Homage; Vassal; 
Sub-infeudation; Truce of God; Secular Clergy; Regular Clergy; 
Clerk; Aristotle; Cathedral; Romanesque; Gothic. Find the mean- 
ings of these terms in any good dictionary: — Palisade; Moat; Port- 
cullis; Drawbridge; Benefit of Clergy. 

2. What are the chief differences between castles of the earlier Mid- 
dle Ages and those of the later Middle Ages? 

3. Compare the education of the noble youth of this period with the 
educational aims of Charlemagne. (See Emerton, Introduction, 

pp. 225, 228-29; Ogg, p. 145.) 

4. Amusements in the Middle Ages. 

5. W T hat occasions would there be for feudal wars? 

6. The influence of the Church as to maintaining peace and order. 

7. What "comforts of life" existed in the Middle Ages? 

8. What effects did the difficulties of travel and communication have? 

9. Position of the Church and churchmen in the feudal system. 

10. What were the textbooks of the Middle Ages? In what language were 
they written? 

11. What is the significance of the cathedrals of the Middle Ages? Name 
some of the most famous. 

EXERCISES 

1. What are the striking differences between a feudal army and a 
modern army? 

2. Did the nobles pay taxes in the Middle Ages? If so, to whom? 
Compare with taxation under the Roman Empire. 

1 It is an interesting fact that often in the mediaeval churches the inner side 
of sculptures, etc., is elegantly finished, although set so as not to be exposed to 
any spectators. "But God can behold if our work is imperfect!" a mediaeval 
craftsman would have said 



i4o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

3. Travel and communication in the Middle Ages. Compare with the 
same under the Roman Empire. 

4. Life in a mediaeval monastery. 

5. The origins of the terms "Romanesque" and "Gothic" as applied to 
architecture. What are the characteristics of each style? 

6. The armor and weapons of the feudal period. 

7. What was meant by "honor" in the Middle Ages? 

8. Compare in general life in the Roman Empire and that in feudal times. 

READINGS 

Sources. Ogg: chapter xm (in review) ; chapter xv, section 44. Robinson: 
pp. 377-8o. 

Modem Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 63-67, 71-90, 128-39. Bemont and 
Monod: pp. 254-67, chapter xxxi. Seignobos: Feudal Regime, chap- 
ters ii, in. Emerton: chapters xm, xiv, xvi. Duruy: pp. 111-16. 






CHAPTER XIII 

THE RISE OF THE NON-NOBLE CLASSES 1 

72. The evil state of the peasants. The knights and the 
priests with their swords or their pens made nearly all the 
history of the earlier Middle Ages; yet barely one man in forty 
belonged to these two favored classes taken together. It is 
time to say a little of the less favored thirty-nine. 

In 1000, the bulk of the peasantry in Europe were serfs — 
bound to the soil, subject to the extremes of forced labor and 
personal taxation, able to marry only with the consent of the 
seigneur, and able to transmit their little farm and personal 
belongings to their children only by the payment of a heavy 
tax, again to the seigneur. They could be actually bought and 
sold, but only along with the land to which they were unalter- 
ably attached. 2 If they ran away, they could be chased down as 
"masterless men," and reclaimed like runaway slaves. There 
were, however, also an increasing number of free peasants. 
These men could marry and change their abode at will, and 
transmit their property. But their social status was scarcely 
better than that of the serfs. They were without effective 
protection against the lords, who could tax and maltreat 
" serfs " and " freemen " alike with impartial brutality and 
arbitrariness. 

Nobles and churchmen alike taught that it was the duty of 

1 While many of the statements in this chapter apply to the whole of western 
Europe, especial reference is made to France, as the most typical of all feudalized 
countries. 

2 In being thus bound to the soil, and having the real use if not actual owner- 
ship of a little farm, the mediaeval serfs differed from absolute slaves. There 
were a few genuine slaves in Europe in the Middle Ages, but not enough to make 
them a real factor. 



i 4 2 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

these " villeins " l to submit cheerfully to their lot, to support 
the upper classes with their labors, to thank Heaven if they 
were treated with a modicum of justice, and to endure patiently 
if the feudal lord abused them (as too frequently) a little worse 
than his dogs and cattle. Truth to tell, the villeins were prob- 
ably a brutish lot. Their days were consumed in grinding field 
labor with spade and mattock ; their homes were mere hovels 
of wood, sun-dried brick and thatch; their clothing a few coarse 




PEASANTS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY 

(Adapted from a Bible of 1380 in the Brussels Library) 



rags; their food always scanty. Of their intelligence, manners, 
cleanliness, nothing need be said. In the average peasant's 
hut, the dirty, half -naked children would struggle on the earthen 
floor along with the little pigs and the poultry. " How could 
God and the saints love such creatures? " — Betwixt peasant 
and noble there was surely a great gulf fixed ! 

73. The slow rise of the agricultural classes. In the Middle 

1 That is, dwellers in a villa or farm, whence later came the idea of a "vil- 
lain" as a clownish, rascally countryman. 



THE RISE OF THE NON-NOBLE CLASSES 143 

Ages the towns were at first few and insignificant, and nearly 
all peasants lived in miserable huts on the feudal estates. 
Agricultural methods were extremely primitive; a drought or 
a wet year meant a famine and misery for a wide district. Dur- 
ing times of great shortage there are grim tales told of feasts 
on human flesh, and of the multiplication of wolves, human 
and quadruped. Even the rights which the feudal law secured 
to the peasant were seldom enforcible if his seigneur were an 
unscrupulous man : — for how could the serf ever hale his mail- 
clad lord to justice? Sickening stories of extreme tyranny and 
cruelty abound. Nevertheless, little by little the peasantry 
found their lot improve, for various reasons: — 

(a) On the ample Church lands, the churchmen as a rule 
treated their peasants with greater humanity than did the 
average seigneur. l 

(b) The Church declared the freeing of serfs a most merito- 
rious act for a nobleman. Frequently a conscience-stricken 
baron would try to square accounts with Heaven by freeing all 
or a part of his peasants. 

(c) Especially in crusading times the lords had great need of 
ready money for their wars. Wretched as the serfs were, often 
individuals or villages had saved up a little private stock. They 
could now " buy their freedom," by one lump payment. 

So the serfs were always tending to become " free peasants." 
They were still despised villeins and u non-noble," but they 
were not quite so defenseless. They were next able to make an 
agreement with their lords so that the taxes they paid on their 
lands, and the amount of forced labor requirable of them 
should be limited to a certain fixed amount. Besides, the kings 
(especially in France) were growing in power. They would 
give a certain protection to the peasants, as a makeweight 
to the nobles. Nevertheless, the country villeins continued 

1 Especially the peasants dependent upon an abbey could count on being fed 
by the monks in times of famine. 



i 4 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

to be as a rule oafish, ignorant, and outrageously oppressed 
all through the Middle Ages. The non-nobles of Europe first 
found their opportunity and their power in the growth of the 
towns. 

74. The rise of the free towns. The Roman Empire had 
been covered with stately cities. Many of these had perished 
outright; others were (in 1000) merely starving villages inside 
the ruins of the old walls. But in the decades following the 
year 1000 came a revival of civic life. Sometimes a reviving 
commerce reawoke a nigh-dead community; sometimes an 
unwontedly intelligent seigneur fostered its growth; sometimes 
the presence of a prosperous monastery was the decisive 
factor. By 1 100, there are signs of city life over western Europe. 
By 1200, cities are numerous and relatively important. 1 

At first these cities were mere collections of a few nobles and 
a mass of peasants who preferred trading to farming. Ordinary 
feudal law (or lack of law) obtained in a community. The 
peasants were subject to about the same burdens as if they 
had worked in the fields. But in these towns the non-nobles 
could join together as never in the open country. They soon 
learned their numbers and their strength. Merchants and 
master artisans were becoming wealthy. They, too, were no 
longer utterly defenseless against the seigneur. The towns soon 
built walls which could defy an ordinary feudal army. Inside 
the gates the mounted knights — so formidable in the open 
field — were almost helpless in the narrow streets when stones 
and boiling water rained on them from the houses above. 
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the cities of France, 
England, Flanders, and Germany were winning charters from 
their king or lords. 

Occasionally these charters were freely granted by magnani- 

1 The small size of these "cities" must be clearly realized. In the Middle Ages 
1000 inhabitants would make a considerable town: 10,000 a " great city," indeed. 
Very possibly in 1 200 (outside of Italy), there were no places of much more than 
10,000 inhabitants in all Western Christendom, save Paris and London. 



THE RISE OF THE NON-NOBLE CLASSES 145 

mous and intelligent princes. Often they were purchased — 
through an extraordinary payment by the townsfolk. Some- 
times, also, the king or emperor would grant them — perhaps 
in the teeth of the local feudal ruler — to set up a rival power 
beside that of the dangerous baron. Or often city folk rose en 
masse: the gates would be closed; the great alarm-bell rung; 
the residence of the local prince or prince-bishop would be 
stormed, and then the charter be granted before the threat of 
gleaming weapons. The ordinary result in any case was the 
same, a carefully drafted and sealed document creating a " free 
town " — i.e., with specific rights of local self-government, 
and all taxes and other obligations due to the lord defined and 
limited. Hereafter the inhabitants of such a town are no longer 
helpless peasants. They are called (in France) bourgeoisie, — 
" free-burghers," — with their own especial rights. They 
elect their own magistrates, levy their local militia, raise their 
own taxes; and if fortune favors, the bond uniting them to 
their old feudal lord becomes very frail, indeed. The cities 
then become veritable little " city-states " — almost on the 
old Greek model. 

This new order of burghers, which intruded itself between 
the two favored upper classes and the peasants, was unwel- 
come, indeed, to the former. " Commune — a name new and 
execrable! " cries a priestly chronicler. But the nobles and 
churchmen were fain to make the best they could of these 
intruders: for wealth, intelligence, enterprise, and new ideas 
made haste to find their way to the free towns. 

75. The aspect of a mediaeval city. The government of a 
mediaeval city differed with time and country. In Italy, where 
the feudal power had always been weakest, the towns became 
most independent and were justly called " republics." In 
Germany, Flanders, and France the assertion of liberty was 
never quite so complete. In any case the mediaeval city was 
never a democracy. Sometimes various petty nobles actually 



146 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

settled in the town, fraternized with the non-nobles, and made 
a civic aristocracy. More often, the great merchants, the 
heads of the trading and craft guildSj etc., formed a body 
of city " patricians," which dominated the city council, 
and usually supplied the " burghermasters " (Germany), 
" mayors " (France), or " consuls " or " podestas " (Italy), as 
the head magistrates were variously called. Yet while it was 
an aristocracy, such a government was usually intelligent and 
public-spirited. A burghermaster could hardly dare to im- 
itate a feudal prince in his contempt for the wishes and 
rights of the lower classes. The government of a " free city," 
in short, would often be founded on efficiency and justice, 
though not on human equality. 

As presented to the eye, a typical mediaeval city would be a 
remarkable sight. Its extent would be small, both because of 
the limited population, and the need of making the circuit of 
the walls to be defended as short as possible; but within these 
walls the huge, many-storied houses would be wedged closely 
together. The narrow streets would be dirty and ill-paved — 
often beset by pigs in lieu of scavengers; but everywhere there 
would be bustling human life with every citizen elbowing close 
to everybody else. Out of the foul streets here and there would 
rise parish churches of marvelous architecture, and in the 
center of the town extended the great square — marketplace 
— where the open-air markets would be held, and close by it, 
dwarfing the lesser churches, the tall gray cathedral, — the 
pride of the community; close by, also, the City Hall (Hotel de 
Ville, or, in Germany, Rathhaus), an elegant secular edifice, 
where the council met, where the great public feasts could take 
place, and above which rose the mighty belfry, whence clanged 
the great alarm-bell to call the citizens together in mass meet- 
ing, or to don armor and man the walls. The magnificent 
houses, walls, churches, and civic buildings of Nuremberg 
(South Germany), as they stand to-day, testify to the glories 



THE RISE OF THE NON-NOBLE CLASSES 147 



of many of the greater mediaeval cities toward the end of the 
Middle Ages. 

76. The cities of Flanders. In one northern country the 
free cities came almost to dominate the whole political situa- 
tion. The Counts of Flanders were nominally vassals of the 
Kings of France, but during the period 1200 to 1400, or later, 
their power was greatly curtailed by the growth of the great 
manufacturing towns, 
which reached such a 
size and power that only 
by calling in French 
help was the count able 
to keep them in any 
kind of formal obed- 
ience. The prosperity 
of Flanders rested on 
the manufacture of 
woolens (the first great 
manufacturing industry 
of northern Europe). 
The importation of wool 
from England gave 
employment for many 
vessels. 1 Thousands of 
looms in Ypres, Ghent, 
and especially Bruges, 
made these cities among 
the wealthiest in the 
world until the fifteenth century, when they receded before 
the rapid rise of Antwerp. All kinds of commerce followed 
this woolen trade. The cities of the neighboring land of 
Holland were growing rich on the trade in North Sea her- 

1 Usually sent out by the North German cities of the "Hanseatic League." 
(See chapter xix, section 120, footnote.) 




LENDIT FAIR IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 

{After a miniature representing the blessing of the 
Fair by St. Denis, in a Latin manuscript in the Bib- 
liotheque Nationale) 



148 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

ring. 1 The whole region of the " Low Countries " became, in 
short, the center for a number of city-republics, highly in- 
telligent, conscious of their might and restive of feudal dom- 
ination. The Flemings even defied the whole power of the 
Kings of France, and in 1302 the army of the French chivalry 
was disgracefully routed by the Flemish citizens (at the battle 
of Courtrai). In due time the Flemings were reduced again 
9 to French overlordship ; but never to shameful vassalage. The 
" Low Countries " kept their wealth and their liberties until, 
in the sixteenth century, they fought the battle of freedom for 
all the world when they broke the power of Spain. 

77. Venice and Florence. In Italy, two city-states demand 
more than a passing word. About 452, when Attila's hordes 
devastated Italy, 2 the tradition runs that desperate fugitives 
took refuge on the small islands at the head of the Adriatic Sea. 
The settlements they founded became united under the name 
of Venice. At first this maritime republic professed loyalty 
to the Emperors of Constantinople; but by 1100 (or earlier), 
Venice was well able to stand alone — a proud and independent 
city-state, ruled by a despotic but highly intelligent and enter- 
prising oligarchy. Venetian merchant ships covered the Medi- 
terranean. Venice held nearly all the Greek islands in her 
possession; her naval power for long checked the advancing 
Turks; while thanks to her great Oriental trade she truly 
" held the Golden East in fee." The beauty of the palaces of 
her merchant princes has become traditional. In 1450, she was 
by all odds the wealthiest, the most luxurious, the most formid- 
able city in Europe. 

Her rival in wealth was inland Florence. Banking and manu- 
facturing had made Florence powerful. Her government was 
more democratic than that of Venice; her history is a long story 

1 The numerous and strictly observed fast days of the mediaeval Church made 
the trade in fish relatively more important than it is to-day. 

2 See p. 14. 



THE RISE OF THE NON-XOBLE CLASSES 149 



of chic feuds, revolutions, banishments, " returns of exiles," 
conspiracies. About 1434, she fell under the control (at first 
purely unofficial) of the famous Medici family (originally 
bankers) who governed in the main with skill and moderation. 
Florence was the strongest power in North Central Italy, but 
her true title to fame was not her riches or her valiant generals. 
Florence was the birthplace of poets, artists, and scholars, who 




TRADE ROUTES AND COMMERCIAL CITIES 

have made their native city almost a rival of Athens in her 
contributions to civilization. l 

78. The revival of commerce and industry. In the later Mid- 
dle Ages, despite bad roads, bad inns, bad bridges, 2 bandits 

1 Mention might also be made in this age of Genoa, a proud naval and com- 
mercial republic, that almost distanced Venice in the struggle for maritime 
supremacy, but at the last test failed. 

2 The mediaeval bridges were in the average so bad and perilous that we 



i 5 o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

and " robber knights," commerce was again reviving. Spices, 
carpets, silks, and " Damascus steel " weapons were imported 
from the Orient. The merchant vessels began feeling their way 
along the coast, and as ships became larger and stancher, their 
captains grew bolder. From Venice or Genoa a considerable 
caravan trade also found its way over the Alps, to Lyons in 
France, or to the German Augsburg or Nuremberg, which 
became centers for an active commerce. The Rhine, the Dan- 
ube, and the great French rivers became covered with freight 
boats and barges. l In the larger cities famous fairs sprang up, 
where merchants from all Europe and the nearer Orient came 
together to interchange alike new commodities and new ideas. 
Gradually, too, men learned to put aside the prejudice against 
lending money at interest (" usury ") which had been forbidden 
by the Church in the earlier Middle Ages. Great credit trans- 
actions and an elaborate banking system had developed, at 
least in Italy, by the time Columbus discovered America. 2 
All this meant another step in human progress. 

Commerce (the importation of foreign wares) came first. 
The next step was to try to imitate or improve upon the foreign 
importations. From 1200 onward, there is a great revival of 
European industry, and all the arts and crafts improve. Manu- 
facturing is usually, indeed, on a small scale: the " master," 
with a few " apprentices " and " journeymen " (wage-workers), 

find in the prayer-books formulas for " commending one's soul to God ere start- 
ing to cross a bridge." 

1 River navigation played an extremely important part in commerce before 
the days of railroads. Nearly all the great mediaeval cities lie upon navigable 
rivers. 

2 It was regularly agreed that money was a barren thing — it could not grow 
of itself — how, then, was it right to demand interest "to make money breed 
money?" The Church practically forbade Christians to lend at interest. The 
result was that about all lending transactions had to be through Joes ("who 
had no souls to lose!"), who had to demand a tremendous interest because they 
often lacked the legal means to collect their debts, and had to recoup themselves 
for their losses. The Jews were practically forced to become money-lenders. They 
were not allowed to enter the feudal system and hold land, and they had no other 
way to invest their wealth. 



THE RISE OF THE NON-NOBLE CLASSES 151 

makes in the rear of the little shop the articles which he sells 
at retail over the counter in front: the prices, however, the 
manufacturing methods, the whole mode of trade is controlled 
by the " guild " to which they all belong — a kind of labor- 
union, but managed by the employers. 

By 1500, in brief, the merchants and the craftsmen have 
won back the place they once held in Graeco-Roman so- 
ciety, as important parts of the body politic. During the 
next four centuries they are to grow continually in strength 
until they seem to overshadow alike the old nobles, the 
churchmen, and the peasants. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Serf; Free Peasant; Villein; Commune; Burghers; Burgher- 
master; Podesta; City Hall; Medici; Guild. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Nuremberg; Flanders (see map on page 256); Ghent; 
Bruges; Antwerp; Holland; Courtrai; Venice; Florence; 
Augsburg; Lyons; Genoa. 

(b) Mark the trade routes. 

3. Position of the villeins in mediaeval society. Were their masters 
under any obligations to them? 

4. How might the serfs become free? 

5. Make a summary of the reasons for the rise of the agricultural classes. 

6. What were the causes of the revival of city life? 

7. What rights were ordinarily given to the cities by the charters? 

8. If the "free towns" were so objectionable to the nobles and clergy, 
and if these were so much more powerful than the non-noble class, 
why were the "free towns" allowed? 

9. Describe the government of the chartered towns. 

10. What conditions made the cities of Flanders so powerful? What 
changes in these conditions would lessen the power and importance of 
the Flemish cities? 

11. What part had Venice taken in the crusades? 

12. What difficulties were in the way of commerce in the Middle Ages? 

13. What was the objection to charging interest on money? What was 
the result? 

14. Compare the guild with a modern labor union. 



I5 2 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

EXERCISES 

i. Obligations of the peasants to their lords. 

2. Occupations of the workers in the Middle Ages. 

3. The life on the manor. 

4. Town halls of the Middle Ages. 

5. The government of Venice. Compare with that of Florence. 

6. The expansion of Venetian territory. 

7. Rivalry of Venice and Genoa. 

8. The Medici family. 

9. What "poets, artists, and scholars" made Florence almost a rival of 
Athens? 

10. What goods were exchanged between northern and southern Europe? 

11. Famous fairs. 

12. Position of the Jews. Did the Crusades affect their position? 

13. Merchant and craft guilds. 

14. The Hanseatic League. 

READINGS 

Sources. Ogg: chapter xx. Robinson: nos. 157-7 1. 

Modern accounts. Bemont and Monod: pp. 375"0°- Seignobos: pp. 67-71, 

88-89, 1 15-17, 140-46, 164-72. Emerton: chapter xv. Gibbins: pp. 36- 

101. Seignobos: Feudal Regime, chapter 1. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE POPES, THE EMPERORS, AND THE MEDIAEVAL CHURCH 

79. " The freedom of the Church." In 1056, died the 
Emperor Henry III, in whose reign the government of the 
Holy Roman Empire had seemed about to establish its com- 
plete domination over the Papacy and the entire Western 
Church. The Emperor had removed and named Popes even as 
he might secular officials. He had tilled up the German and 
Italian bishoprics (with their great princely as well as spiritual 
powers) with appointees devoted to his interests. Was not the 
whole Church on the point of being " captured " by the tem- 
poral government? Was not "Caesar" about to dominate 
" Christ " ? This interference of the State in the Church was, 
indeed, deplored by almost every pious churchman, yet for the 
moment there seemed no avoiding it. The Church, and its 
central office, the Papacy, had become demoralized and dis- 
credited. Until there had been a new spirit put into the whole 
organization it was useless to expect the State to cease its 
" unholy " intermeddling. 

But the Church had still its millions of zealous supporters. 
A great reform movement was about to purify the whole 
mighty fabric, and make the Empire tremble in turn before the 
Papacy. l Some of the reforms demanded were these : — 

(a) An orderly method must be provided for the election of 
Popes : hitherto they had been too often the choice of a riotous 
faction in Rome. 

(b) " Simony " (i.e., the sale of Church offices), a common 
scandal, must be ended. 

1 This reform movement is commonly considered to have started at the great 
and influential monastery of Cluny in France: hence it is sometimes called 
the "Cluny Movement." 



i 5 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

(c) The marriage of the clergy (denounced now as a crying 
sin) must cease. 1 

(d) The investiture (i.e., confirmation in office of bishops) by 
laymen must also end. 

These various demands were all summed up in the call for 
the " freedom of the Church ": — that is, its exemption from 
secular interference, and the reform program found a notable 
champion — Hildebrand. 

80. Hildebrand: as monk and as Pope-maker. To a certain 
individual humbly born at Saona, Italy, about 1020, the 
mediaeval Papacy owes more than to any other one man. 2 
Hildebrand spent his youth as a monk at Rome, witnessing the 
worldly abuses and confusions of the Church, but also busying 
himself in maturing plans to right them. " His was that rarest 
and grandest of gifts, an intellectual courage and power of 
imaginative belief which, when it has convinced itself of aught, 
shrinks not from acting upon it at once." He was not a mere 
dreamer, but he combined with the typical monk's contempla- 
tion a notable ability as a constructive statesman; he was a 
manipulator of men, a leader who could fire others with his 
own high courage, and a combatant who never spared a foe, 
nor himself, in what he considered the war for righteousness. 

Beginning with 1048, he became the indispensable adviser to 
several very worthy Popes who were striving to execute the 
reform program in the Church. After 1056, when the death of 
Henry III left the Empire in weak hands and relieved the 
Papacy from governmental interference, Hildebrand was able 

1 Up to this time the marriage of bishops had been absolutely forbidden, but 
in many sections the marriage of ordinary priests had been at least winked at. 
Besides the objections which the Catholic Church still urges against clerical 
marriage, another one could be advanced in the Middle Ages — that if priests 
were allowed to raise families, inevitably (under feudal conditions) their sons 
would soon inherit their Church offices, and the priesthood would become an 
arrogant :< priestly caste" like the Brahmans of India. 

2 In his later career his name did not fail to be seized upon by his enemies for 
ill-natured puns, Hildebrand = Brand of Hell ! etc. 



THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 155 

to carry out his policy with drastic thoroughness. Thanks to 
his sagacious counsel, the Popes of the day reasserted their old 
leadership over the Church: and it was established that the 
Popes must be elected in a peaceable and proper matter by 
the cardinals. 1 Papal " legates " (deputies) visited different 
parts of Germany and Italy and held synods wherein the 
" simoniacal " and otherwise unworthy bishops were disci- 
plined or deposed. The decrees against clerical marriage were 
sternly enforced despite much outcry and, no doubt, suffering 
on the part of the unfortunate priests called upon to " put 
away their concubines " — their wives. 

In 1073, the Church had largely purged itself, and was pre- 
pared to attack the great problem of secular interference in its 
policies. In that year Hildebrand himself became Pope. 

81. Henry IV and his bad rule in Germany. While this 
monk, "small of stature but with a lion's soul," was lifting 
again the power of the Papacy, the one-time dominator thereof 
— the Empire — was falling into an evil case. Henry IV (1056- 
1106), son of Henry III, was not by any means cowardly or 
incapable, but from his early youth he was taught to consider 
himself " monarch of all the world," and to indulge in very 
ignoble pleasures ; while his German realm was run by regents, 
usually politically minded bishops who perpetrated acts of 
tyranny in his name and brought the imperial power into dis- 
repute. When Henry became of age and ruler in his own right, 
things went no better. He was himself a Franconian (Central 
German) : by 1073 ne na ^ goaded the Saxons (North Germans) 
into revolt. 2 After some fighting he gained a temporary 



1 Every student should investigate the origin and nature of the "College of 
Cardinals." It is an essential part of the government of the Catholic Church 
to-day. (See any good encyclopedia.) 

2 The Saxons had never forgotten that they were the original imperial race 
of the Ottos; and they took very ill the domination of their rivals of Franco- 
nia. But apart from this jealousy, Henry's rule had been blundering if not 
tyrannical. 



156 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

mastery over the rebels ; but his power was in a feeble way when 
he collided with Hildebrand. 

82. The humiliation at Canossa. Hildebrand took the title 
of Gregory VII (1073-85). As Pope his real power in the Church 
was not made greater than it was formerly, but became more 
recognized. All the earlier lines of reform were followed with 
new zeal, but especially Gregory undertook to strike the prac- 
tice of lay investiture. So long as princes, and the Emperor in 
particular, kept the power to give or withhold from a newly 
made bishop the lk temporalities " (i.e., the feudal powers and 
territorial wealth of a bishopric), just so long would they retain 
a firm grip on the actual appointment of the bishops and fill 
the great positions of the Church with unspiritual politicians. l 
On the other hand, with the bishops holding about the same 
secular powers as the feudal princes, and with a large fraction 
of the whole realm actually under their control, the naming of 
them was a very vital matter to the Emperor. A great conflict 
was absolutely certain. 

Gregory began by treating Henry IV with moderation, but 
in 1075, he issued a decree from Rome forbidding any lay ruler 
to presume to invest a bishop, and forbidding any churchman 
to accept " lay investiture." The blow was very clearly aimed 
at Henry, who was not minded to give up the long-standing 
usage of the Crown touching this most valuable kind of patron- 
age. After a little correspondence, both parties drifted to open 
war. The many prelates who dreaded a reform of the Church 
egged Henry on to defy Gregory to do his worst, and to order 
" Hildebrand " to " quit the Papacy which he had usurped." 
Gregory's answer was a sentence of anathema and excom- 
munication. Speaking as the Vicar of Christ, set above all 

1 Theoretically the bishop would be chosen "by the clergy and people" of 
his diocese. Practically these would never elect a man unless the prince was sure 
to confirm him, otherwise he would never receive an essential part of his temporal 
property and power. The result would be that the prince really named the new 
bishop. 



THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 157 

kings and emperors, Gregory " prohibited Henry from ruling 
in Germany and Italy," and " released all Christian men from 
the obligation of their oaths to him." " I forbid all men to 
serve him as king, 1 and I bind him with the bonds of the 
anathema." 

Almost instantly at these dread thunders Henry's cowardly 
adherents in the Church fell away, while the Saxons rose 
against him. He was declared suspended from his kingly 
functions, and it was proposed to hold a council in Germany to 
try him for his crimes, with the Pope as actual president of the 
council. 

To escape this certain doom Henry hastened almost unat- 
tended over the Alps in midwinter, and presented himself 
before Gregory at Canossa, an Italian castle where the Pope 
was halting on his way north. Three days in biting winter 
weather the man who claimed to inherit the power of Augustus 
and of Charlemagne waited barefoot in the snow entreating 
" entrance " and " absolution " from the stern- visaged Pope. 
At last Gregory yielded, though misdoubting the king's loud 
professions of penitence. Henry was admitted and after mani- 
fold pledges absolved. 

Thus " Caesar " literally prostrated himself before " Peter " 
— the humbly born monk of Saona : a proclamation to all the 
world of the victory of the spiritual over the temporal power! 
It was the greatest moment of outward triumph ever enjoyed 
by any Pope, and in some ways the most typical and significant 
scene in the entire Middle Ages. 

83. The end of the investiture contest. The glory for the 
hour was with Gregory, but not the entire advantage. He had 
humiliated Henry too much, and laid himself open to the 
charge of un-Christian pride. There was a reaction of public 
opinion in Germany in the king's favor. He was able to 

1 Henry IV had not yet been crowned in Rome, and so was technically only 
"king" and not "emperor"; his actual power, however, was practically the same. 



158 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

reassemble armies and defy again both his rebel nobles and the 
Pope. Gregory's second anathema did not wither Henry's 
power as did the first. The king beat down the Saxon malcon- 
tents, and in 1081 again went into Italy — this time with an 
army. He besieged Gregory in Rome and actually captured 
the greater part of the city, and had himself crowned " Em- 
peror " by an anti-Pope of his own creation. He was obliged 
soon to retire northward, but Gregory's position in Rome had 
become untenable and he was forced to take refuge with his 
South Italian ally, the Prince of Naples. 

In 1085, the great Pope passed away at Salerno. Almost at 
the end he renewed the ban upon Henry. Proud and defiant 
were his final words: " I have loved righteousness and hated 
iniquity: therefore, I die in exile." He had for the moment 
failed in his attempt to set the Pope as an arbiter over kings, 
but it was a magnificent failure. 

In 1 106, Henry IV died, banned by the Church and at war 
with his own son. In 11 22, this son (Henry V) ended the 
" investiture conflict " by a treaty (Concordat of Worms) 
with the Pope. Both parties were weary of the contest and 
glad of a compromise. The Emperor was to cease to " invest " 
bishops, but still retained some control upon their choosing, so 
that he could hamper the election of downright enemies. 

84. St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Gregory VII had been prema- 
ture in trying so abruptly to make the Pope and the Church 
dominators over the feudal princes, but his example had been 
notable and not in vain. Never was the Church stronger than 
in the twelfth century. The crusades, indeed, redounded greatly 
to the glory of the Papacy, but from about 1 1 20 to his death 
(1153), the most influential man in Christendom was not the 
Pope, but a great Abbot, — St. Bernard of Clairvaux, — a 
French monk of remarkable piety, spirituality, and withal 
worldly wisdom. His moral leadership was such that he was 
practically able to decide between rival candidates to the 



THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 



i59 



Papacy, to give good advice (gratefully received) to the Popes 
themselves, to control the councils of kings, and to set in mo- 
tion by his eloquence the Second Crusade. l This " mellifluous 
doctor " was really the first man of his age: a wonderful testi- 
mony to the manner in which the moral ideals upheld by the 
mediaeval Church were able to dominate a society just emerg- 
ing from feudal violence. 

85. Frederick I (Barbarossa) — (1 152-90) . After the end of 
the investiture struggle, the 
Emperors are for some time 
unimportant. They were 
really only elective feudal 
kings of Germany, with a 
very weak hold upon their 
subjects there, and a still 
weaker hold upon Italy — 
although in theory they were 
still " Caesars," " Lords of 
all the World": but the 
Middle Ages were accustomed 
to rulers of mighty claims 
and very limited power. In 
1 152, however, the German 
princes elected a man of 
a bolder stamp, Frederick 
Barbarossa (" Red-Beard"), 
who made a decisive bid 
for all the old authority of Charlemagne and of the Ottos. 

The new ruler was of the famous Hohenstaufen (South 
German) family — "the most gifted race which ever reigned 
in Germany." He was a man of soaring ambition, of truly 

1 See p. 102. Besides being a prolific theological writer and carrying on a vast 
correspondence, Bernard was the author of many beautiful hymns. His Jesu, 
Dulcis Memoria ("Jesus, the very thought of thee," etc.) is sung to-day in many 
churches, Protestant and Catholic. 




THE CASTLE OF FREDERICK 
BARBAROSSA 
At Kaiserswerth on the Rhine. {Restoration 
after Jager.) 



160 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

noble physical presence, and able to command enthusiasm, 
sometimes cruel, yet magnanimous and never petty. 1 His 
reign is the story of many attempts, sometimes nearly successful, 
to rivet his power especially upon northern Italy. Once he 
actually destroyed the great city of Milan (1162), and seemed 
to have all the rich city-republics of Lombardy at his feet. 
But the Italian free towns loathed the domination of the 
hated " Northerners " from Germany; while the Papacy 
trembled at Frederick's growing power, and made common 
cause with the " Lombard League " 2 against him. In Germany, 
the great duke of united Saxony and Bavaria, Henry the Lion, 
also undermined his power. At Legnano (11 76), the Lombard 
cities routed Frederick's army, and he was forced to grant them, 
their independence in all but name. 3 His power was not ruined, 
however. In Germany, he humiliated Henry the Lion and 
restored his own authority; in southern Italy, he married his 
son (Henry VI) to the heiress of the Kingdom of Naples and 
Sicily. Everything was ripe for a new attack on Italy when the 
Emperor felt constrained to depart upon the Third Crusade, 
in which he perished. 

86. Innocent III (1 198-12 16) arbiter over kings. Frederick 
Barbarossa had almost restored the Empire to its state of 
domination over the Church even as before the days of 
Gregory VII, but now Heaven again glorified the Papacy. 
Frederick's very capable son, Henry VI, soon died, during an 
attempt to seize his wife's inheritance in Sicily. 4 His death 

1 Probably Frederick Barbarossa fills the imagination more completely with 
all that is implied by the term "mediaeval emperor " than any other ruler except 
Charlemagne. 

2 A federation of North Italian city-states for mutual protection. By its 
united efforts Milan was rebuilt in 1167 as a necessary bulwark against the 
Emperor. 

3 The Emperor retained some unsubstantial rights of confirming their mag- 
istrates. 

4 It was vastly for the Emperor's advantage (and the Pope's disadvantage) 
to secure Sicily and southern Italy (then united in one kingdom). The Imperial- 
ists could then threaten Rome from both north and south. 



THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 161 

delivered Germany over to a ruinous civil war between rival 
kings and gave to a great Pope his opportunity. Innocent III 
was not, perhaps, the ablest Pope who ever reigned, but he 
made high-minded and statesmanlike use of his office to exalt 
every papal pretension. Using with full effect the awful 
weapon of excommunication and anathema, he in turn 
humiliated the Kings of England and France and forced them 
to bow to his demands, asserted the rights of decision and lead- 
ership in almost every great question of the day, and claimed the 
power to arbitrate between the contending rivals in Germany. 
Boldly he announced his theory, — " God has instituted two 
high dignities: the Papacy which rules over the souls of men; 
the Monarchy which rules over their bodies. But ... as the 
moon receives its light from the sun, so does the royal power 
derive all its glory and dignity from the papal power." 

In 121 2, the Emperor, Otto IV, ceased to be on friendly 
terms with Innocent, who thereupon showed that his claims 
were not mere theories, by giving his blessing and authoriza- 
tion to the claims of young Frederick II (son of the late 
Henry VI). 1 Frederick crossed the Alps from Italy, and aided 
by the mighty influence of the Church soon ruined his enemy's 
power. 2 Otto died in 1218, with only a few faithful castles still 
left to him. Innocent had passed away two years earlier. No 
personage since the days of Charlemagne had exercised such 
power as did he. What Gregory VII had attempted seemed 
now almost to be fulfilled. 

87. Frederick II (1212-50), the " wonder of the world." 
Could Innocent III have read the future he would not have 
died happy. Young Frederick II proved to be a deadly foe to 
the Papacy, and one of the succeeding Popes was of pliable 
stuff. Frederick himself was a man of remarkable capacity and 

1 Otto had been recognized by all Germany, since 1208 (the date of the death 
of the rival claimant, Philip of Swabia). Young Frederick II had been growing 
up meanwhile in Sicily, the kingdom he inherited through his mother. 

2 For an account of the battle of Bouvines, which helped ruin Otto, see p. 89. 



1 62 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

versatility; he had been bred in half-Oriental Sicily, and never 
felt at home in his cold realms of the North, which he must 
from time to time visit. He was a troubadour of no mean abil- 
ity. He loved to converse with misbelieving Arabian men of 
science and letters. He spoke many tongues. His religious 
views were liberal and extremely unorthodox. 1 His private 
morals were lax; his court was gay, luxurious, and wicked; he 
preferred an armed force of Saracen mercenaries to the regular 
feudal armies; 2 his governmental methods were those of an 
enlightened, clever, but extremely arbitrary and cruel, despot. 
The " wonder of the world " his admiring courtiers called him: 
the " first modern man" some later historians have named 
him ; — in any case, it is certain that both in his virtues and in 
his vices he was born entirely ahead of his age. 

Relatively little of Frederick's life was spent in Germany, 
where he let the feudal princes do much as they would, while 
he concentrated his main efforts on Italy. From 1227 to 1250, 
his reign was one desperate contest with the Popes, broken 
only by intermittent truces. It was no one question that was 
at stake, but the whole issue, whether any secular sovereign 
could become so powerful in Italy as to be able to keep the 
Papacy hopelessly in leading-strings. In open warfare and less 
bloody intrigue, Frederick was for long victorious, but like his 
grandfather (Frederick I) he goaded the Lombard cities into 
revolt, and their hostility finally made victory incline to the 
Papacy. In 1245, the Council of Lyons put him under the most 
complete outlawry of the Church. In 1250, still contending 
desperately in arms, the Emperor died, " taking," so his 
delighted foes proclaimed, " nothing with him to hell but his 

1 It was currently reported among his horror-stricken enemies that he said 
there had been three capital deceivers — Moses, Mohammed, and Christ. This 
did not prevent him from trying to conciliate the Church by exceedingly severe 
laws for the punishment of heretics. 

2 His preference for the Saracens, no doubt, was because they surely would not 
be "loosed from their allegiance" by the papal ban, under which Frederick rested 
for much of his life! 



THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 



163 



sins." With him practically ended the " great " period of the 
mediaeval Empire, and its bid for world sovereignty. 

88. The triumph of the Church. Frederick IPs last legiti- 
mate son died in 1254. In 1268, Conradin, his young grandson, 
perished in a vain attempt to seize his ancestor's kingdom in 
Sicily; and no male representative of " the accursed and 
heretical spawn of the Hohenstaufen " was left to menace the 
Papacy. A French dynasty had (at the papal invitation) 
already seized southern Italy and Sicily. In Germany, civil 
war raged between pre- 
tenders to the crown. Not 
for many years was the 
Papacy really to fear an 
" Emperor " who could 
abridge its powers and free- 
dom of action. In truth, a 
great page of human his- 
tory had been closed. The 
dream of a universal em- 
pire founded upon the 
elective feudal kingship in 
Germany had ended in 
sheer disaster. When the 
Germanic kings ought to 
have been strengthening 
their power at home, they 
had been chasing the impe- 
rial will-o'-the-wisp in Italy. 
Their attempt had been broken upon the resistance of the 
Papacy and the hatred of Italians for German domination. 
The failure left Germany still a dissevered feudal country, 
with its " Emperor " only the pretentious head of a weak con- 
federation of princes: while in Italy there was even greater 
disunion without any common monarch at all. 




POPE CLEMENT IV (1265-1268) 
Endowing Charles of Anjou, by a papal 
bull, with the crown of the Two Sicilies. (From 
a fresco at Perries (Vancluse), France) 



1 64 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

The Papacy seemed for the moment triumphant. As a 
matter of fact, while it had been beating down the Germans, a 
new power had been rising to prominence — France ; and before 
the swelling power of the French monarchy, the Popes were 
soon to learn how groundless were their hopes of becoming 
secular dominators of the world with its kings their obedient 
deputies. 

89. St. Francis and his friars. The clang and clash of the 
wars of the Popes and the Emperors fills much of the thirteenth 
century, but it was by no means an age of naught but struggle 
and confusion. In the reign of the great Innocent III himself 
began a new phase of the old monastic movement which soon 
put its impress upon almost the whole intellectual and spiritual 
life of Europe. In 11 82, was born at Assisi (in Umbria, in 
Italy) St. Francis, one of the most beautiful and refreshing 
characters in all history. Before he died in 1226, he had 
founded the " Franciscan Order of Friars," which is a great 
force in the Catholic Church unto this day. 

St. Francis was an enthusiast, but an enthusiast able to 
make men love him, follow him, submit to him. He began as 
a young man by giving up his hopes for a martial career and 
becoming a religious hermit; but not, however, as a selfish 
recluse who in his secluded cell lt fled the world," and sought 
merely for his own salvation. St. Francis declared that all 
men, even the vilest, were his brothers; and he often spent his 
days in pauper hospitals and in caring for lepers. He took 
the Bible injunctions against riches literally. He and his fol- 
lowers slept in haystacks or lepers' hovels, and repudiated 
every kind of property save only the most necessary garments; 
while "Holy Poverty " he declared to be " his bride." His 
great effort was not only to preach morality, but so to exemplify 
in his own life the spirit of Christ as to carry the Gospel 
throughout the sinful world. " To preach the Gospel and to 
bear Christ's cross " was the real summing-up of his rules for 



THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 165 

his brethren ; and in all his efforts he displayed a serene cheer- 
fulness, a childlike trust in God and love for his fellow men 
which make men of a far later age dwell on his career with 
admiring delight. 

Innocent III at first looked askance at the proposition to 
sanction this new movement. The Church seemed to have 
already too many orders of monks: but Francis was tremen- 
dously in earnest with his petition for a papal confirmation, * 
and Innocent was statesman enough to see the value of such 
enthusiasm placed at the disposal of the Church. The con- 
firmation was granted. Instantly Francis's brotherhood grew 
by leaps and bounds. Before he died his " friars " (brothers) 2 
were active hi every Christian land. 

Francis himself was too impractical really to systematize 
the great movement which he had started. Much to his dis- 
tress the " Franciscans " had to be organized, under a " gen- 
eral," with lesser officers. The rules he established enjoining 
absolute poverty were so austere that they had to be some- 
what relaxed. 3 A man who spoke of the sun and moon as his 
personal u brother " and " sister," and who literally delivered 
eloquent sermons to " our sisters the birds," was surely not an 
adept in worldly wisdom! Nevertheless, the influence of his 
example was tremendous. The beauty and unselfishness of his 
life made him the greatest saint of the Middle Ages, and it was 
long before his followers lost the glow of his spirituality. 

Almost simultaneously with Francis, the Spaniard Dominic 
(1170-1221) was founding the Dominican order of friars, a 

1 The tale runs that Innocent said to Francis, " Go, brother: go roll in the mud 
with the pigs, and to them set forth the doctrines you have so admirably ex- 
pounded"; and speedily Francis returned, saying, "My lord — I have done so." 

2 The original name for the Franciscans was the "little brethren"; i.e., 
Francis did hot consider them worthy to be ranked beside the "Great" (ordin- 
ary) monks of the older orders. 

3 Thus the Franciscans obtained the possession of convents by some such 
device as letting the Pope own the convent, while the friars had merely the use 
of it. Later the Popes refused to act as truitees for the order, and the Franciscans 
were obliged to strain their rules and actually own their monasteries. 



!66 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

less sympathetic but an almost equally powerful order, on 
much the same lines as those of Francis, only laying less stress 
on poverty, and more on theological learning and on formal 
pulpit eloquence, in order to combat the heresies of the day. 

It is impossible to overestimate the influence of this friar 
movement: l a large fraction of the best intellects of the later 
Middle Ages found its way into one or the other of these new 
orders. Between them they vastly purified the Church, and 
perhaps long postponed the Protestant Reformation. 

REVIEW 

i. Topics — Simony; Lay Investiture; "Freedom of the Church"; 
Cluny; Henry IV; Gregory VII; "Temporalities"; Excommunication; 
Canossa; Concordat of Worms; Bernard of Clairvaux; Frederick 
Barbarossa; Lombard League; Legnano; Henry the Lion; Innocent 
III; Frederick II; Conradin; St. Francis; St. Dominic; Mendicant 
Orders. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Canossa; Clairvaux; Milan; Assisi. 

(b) Mark the towns of the Lombard League. 

(c) Mark the bounds of the Empire under the Hohenstaufen 
Emperors. 

3. The relations of Empire and Church at the death of Henry III. 

4. What were the objects of the Cluny Reform? 

5. Why did Hildebrand have such enormous influence before he became 
Pope? 

6. What were the aims and ideals of the mediaeval Emperors as com- 
pared with the mediaeval Popes? Why were these aims and ideals 
wholly incompatible? 

7. What were the causes of the "Investiture Conflict"? 

8. What was the significance of the event at Canossa? 

9. Why was it that " Gregory's second anathema did not wither Henry's 
power as did the first"? 

10. Why. did St. Bernard have more influence than any of the Popes of his 
time? 

11. Summarize the reasons for Frederick I's failure to "rivet his power" 
upon Italy. 

1 The friars' orders are often called the mendicant orders, because Francis and 
Dominic allowed their followers to go about begging from the charitable for their 
own sustenance and in behalf of the poor. 






THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 167 

12. The power and influence of Innocent III. 

13. The character of Frederick II. How do you explain it? 

14. The character of St. Francis. 

15. What was the importance of the work of the friars? 

EXERCISES 

1. The Cluny Program. 

2. The College of Cardinals. 

3. Hildebrand's work before he became Pope. 

4. The event at Canossa. 

5. Compare the Concordat of Worms with the agreement between 
Henry I of England and Anselm. 

6. Is it likely that St. Bernard would have retained his great influence 
if he had been chosen Pope? Why? 

7. Compare Innocent III with Gregory VII. Which was more success- 
ful? Why? 

8. Frederick II. His reforms in Sicily. 

9. Was it possible for Emperor and Pope to be on friendly terms? Com- 
pare their relations with the relations between the Kings of France and 
of England during the period when England held lands in France. 

10. The "Rule" of St. Francis. 

n. How did friars differ from monks? 

12. The Albigensians. 

READINGS 

Sources. Ogg: chapters xv, xvi, xx, section 58; xxn, xxiv, sections 71- 

72. Robinson: nos. 107-22, 146-56. 
Modern Accounts. Bemont and Monod: pp. 286-335, 479~87, 488-514. 

Seignobos: pp. 97-109, 160-63. Emerton: chapters vn-x. Pattison: 

pp. 58-86, 114-43. Lewis: pp. 161-234. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 

90. The causes and contestants. At the beginning of the 
fourteenth century both England and France had become in 
a way true " nations," not merely " feudal kingdoms." As 
near neighbors, each filled with enterprising peoples and ruled 
by ambitious kings, frequent collisions (under mediaeval con- 
ditions) were inevitable; especially as the -English still held 

considerable terri- 
tory in southern 
France. A dis- 
puted succession in 
France, however, 
in which England 
was interested, now 
gave especial ani- 
mus to the rivalry. 1 
From 1338 to 1453, 
England and France 
were at war or 

ENGLISH KNIGHTS AND A FRENCH MAN-AT-ARMS mere ly m a state 

The figure to the left wears civilian costume 

of armed truce. 
This " Hundred Years' War" 2 — long, bloody, and devastat- 
ing — threatened once or twice to reduce France to a mere 
dependency of England. In the end, the English attack failed, 

1 There were plenty of reasons why a general collision was unavoidable. The 
French wished to expel the English from Gascony, and were helping the Scots, 
the enemies of England. They were also interfering in the important English 
wool trade with Flanders. 

2 Of course, it really lasted more than one hundred years. On the other hand, 
fortunately, the warfare was by no means continuous. 




THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 169 

but only after France had undergone a terrible ordeal while 
trying to save her national existence. It was one of the most 
useless great wars in all history. 

The immediate excuse for the war was the claim which 
Edward III of England asserted to the crown of France in the 
name of his mother Isabella, daughter of the French King 
Philip IV. According to the pretended "Salic law," 1 women 
were excluded from the French throne; but did the prohibition 
also exclude their male heirs? If so, Philip of Valois (a French 
prince by a side-line) had the better claim when the direct 
Capetian line died out (1328). If not, then Edward's preten- 
sions were at least plausible. The law was not clear, and prece- 
dents were few. Edward could well persuade himself that he 
ought to reign in Paris as well as in London. 

In this contest France seemed by far the larger and richer 
country, but her opponents were more united and decidedly 
better disciplined. Above all, in the actual righting the English 
made use of a special type of soldier — the yeoman archer. 
The terrible English longbow with its " clothyard arrow," had 
only recently been developed in all its possibilities. The trained 
archers could accomplish therewith marvels in the way of ac- 
curacy and penetration. 2 These men (recruited from the hith- 
erto despised peasant class) had the mounted mail-clad knight 
— who was still the pride and stay of the French armies — 

1 The name arose from the alleged derivation of the law from the old Salian 
Franks. It was really a law of exceedingly doubtful validity and application, 
but there were many practical reasons for objecting to the rule of a woman in a 
turbulent mediaeval kingdom. Probably, if Edward had been a Frenchman, his 
case would have been more favorably considered at the outset; but the French 
nobles had just reasons for objecting to have a foreign-born king come to rule 
over them. 

2 The yew bow was about six feet long, and so powerful that it required a 
careful training as well as considerable strength to be able to bend it. Such a 
weapon had almost the range of an old-style musket, and could penetrate all but 
the best armor. If the latter was "proof," the archer could at least aim with 
deadly precision at the eye-holes in his opponent's helmet. Scott gives an admir- 
able idea of the capabilities of the English bowmen in his Ivanhoe. 



170 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



almost at their mercy. Destroying the monopoly of martial 
prowess hitherto held by the feudal nobility was a distinct step 
toward the coming of general democracy . 

91. The Crecy campaign (1346). Edward III became King 
of England in 1327 and saw his rival Philip (of Valois) accepted 

as so^sSreign of France 
in 1328. He was then 
too young and too much 
involved in home trou- 
bles to assert his own 
claims, and in fact ac- 
tually did homage to 
Philip for his South 
French lands; but in 
1339, he was able to con- 
duct an invasion of 
France. Edward's first 
campaigns were unskill- 
ful and led to little, but 
he presently developed 
into an accomplished 
warrior. In 1346, he led 
an army across the north 
of France, ravaging up 
to the walls of Paris. 
Such a defiance Philip 
VI (a brave, showy, but 
not very capable prince) 
could not tolerate. He 
called out all the magnificent feudal chivalry of the land, and 
started after Edward as he marched northward. At Cre'cy in 
Picardy, the two armies met, and with headlong valor the 
French knights strove to ride down the serried lines of English 
archers, stiffened by thin companies of dismounted men-at-arms. 




HORSEMAN IN FULL ARMOR 
Period of the Hundred Years' War. Note that 
delicate plate-mail has now replaced the earlier ring- 
mail. This was the highest development of the arm- 
orers' art, which reached its perfection just before 
the coming of gunpowder. {From a restoration in 
the MusSe d'Arttilerie, Paris) 



THE HUNDRED YEARS* WAR 



171 



The slaughter wrought by the long bows was horrible. The 
French fell in heaps, shot down usually before they could even 
strike their lances against the terrible bowmen. Twelve hun- 
dred knights, thirty thousand rank and file of the attackers, are 
said to have perished, ere the remnant of Philip's army drifted 
away in rout. Edward pursued his march to the seaboard, and 




FRANCE DURING THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 



after a long siege took Calais (1347) — an important port oppo- 
site England. He held now a door into France, a convenient 
base for any subsequent attack toward Normandy and Paris. x 

1 Calais remained in English hands until 1558. During the entire interval it 
was a thorn in the side of the French. 



1 72 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

92. Poitiers and the Treaty of Bretigny. Further campaign- 
ing was suspended for the time being by the direful " Black 
Death," a pestilence from the Orient which now swept over 
Europe (1348) and smote victor and vanquished alike. One 
third of the whole population of Europe is alleged to have died, 
and in some districts probably more than half of all the inhab- 
itants. Such a visitation, of course, disorganized alike warfare 
and peaceful commerce and agriculture. l Yet in a short time 
the contest was renewed. The English kings had always kept 
a part of the old Angevin dominions in Guienne. Now the 
il Black Prince," the capable son of Edward III, 2 conducted 
a ravaging campaign from the southward, working into the 
very heart of France. Philip VI had been succeeded by his son 
John (1350-64), a king with little to commend him save head- 
long valor. At Poitiers (1356), John confronted the Black 
Prince with a greatly superior army, but threw away all his 
advantages by a series of utterly blundering frontal attacks. 
Again the bowmen shot with terrible advantage. When the 
day ended, eleven thousand French lay on the field, and the 
English held several thousand prisoners, including King John 
himself. 

Edward had now become convinced that he could hardly 
conquer the whole of France, but after several years' captivity, 
John in turn was glad to purchase peace by the Treaty of 
Bretigny (1360). He kept his crown, indeed, but had to pay 
an enormous ransom and to cede to England a great block of 
territory south of the Loire. When he died, his kingdom was 
thus dismembered, and the remnant of it was oppressed by 
taxation, and rent by the wars of the lawless nobles, who were 
vexing the country even more than the English. 

93. Charles V (1364-80) and the first expulsion of the Eng- 

1 See chapter xvi, p. 100. 

2 His real name was Edward, but he was named the "Black Prince" from the 
armor which he usually wore. He was above the average of mediaeval warrior- 
in really soldierly qualities. 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 173 

lish. John's successor was his son Charles V, surnamed the 
" Wise," or, perhaps more happily, the " Adroit." There was 
nothing heroic about Charles, but much craft, tenacity, and 
ingenuity. He was able to see clearly the cause of the French 
disasters : — the French cavalry could not ride down the 
English archers. As soon as he dared (1369), he repudiated the 
recent treaty, and defied the English to their worst. Their 
armies again harried the land, but now the French refused 
them pitched battles, cut off supplies, and forced them to 
waste their strength in long sieges. In Bertrand Duguesclin, 
Charles found a general of no mean ability who wearied the 
English out. The Black Prince retired to England to die of 
disease (1376), and practically all his conquests were lost. 
The English held only Calais in the north, and Bordeaux and 
Bayonne in the south. Charles was even more successful as a 
civil administrator. He reformed the machinery of govern- 
ment, and gave back to his subjects law and order, with the 
accompanying prosperity. Everything promised a most glori- 
ous reign when the king died at the age of only forty-three 
(1380). His eldest son was only twelve, and an evil day had 
dawned for France. 

94. The second coming of the English: Agincourt (14 15). 
Civil strife in England for long put a check on new projects of 
invasion, but the reign of Charles VI (1380-142 2) was not one 
of peace for miserable France. The king soon proved himself 
an imbecile. 1 Two great court parties, the " Armagnacs " (or 
Orleanists, to which the dauphin or crown prince belonged) 
and the " Burgundians " (faction of the Duke of Burgundy), 
waged a bitter war of open battle and secret assassination for 
the control of the king and the kingdom. The state of the 
realm went from bad to worse, and in 141 5, Henry V of Eng- 

1 To the misfortune of his people Charles did not become actually insane, — 
he had lucid intervals, — and as a result he could not be put under guardians 
and a regular regent appointed. Instead, the poor king was the helpless tool, 
now of one faction, now of another, to the great ruin of the country. 



I74 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

land (the wild " Prince Hal," famed by Shakespeare), a bold, 
chivalrous, and very ambitious sovereign, renewed the foreign 
war. Somewhat in way of repetition of the Crecy campaign, 
he invaded France from the north and swept ravaging through 
Normandy. The " Armagnac " princes (then in control of the 
government) attacked him at Agincourt with a magnificent 




; :V\ A 



'? • ' 



s££ 




Ts fir 



ATTACK AND DEFENSE OF A CITY IN THE 
FIFTEENTH CENTURY 

Note the very primitive cannon just before the Kate. (From a manu- 
script of Froiss art's Chronicles, in the Bibliothcquc Nationak) 

army of the old-style feudal horsemen. Sixty thousand French 
assailed twelve thousand English, but the clothyard shafts of 
the bowmen had lost nothing of their terrors, and Henry fought 
his men with superb generalship. Three French dukes, six 
counts, ninety-two barons, five hundred lesser nobles, and eight 
thousand of the rank and file lay on the field of battle. The 
English took so many prisoners that they could hardly guard 
them. The resisting power of France seemed utterly crippled. 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 175 

This disaster put the " Burgundian " faction in control of 
the feeble-minded king and the royal government. In 1419, 
the Duke of Burgundy, however, was murdered under circum- 
stances of foul treachery by th*e " Armagnacs." The crime 
drove the " Burgundians " into the arms of England. By the 
Treaty of Troyes (1420), poor Charles VI was made to accept 
Henry V as his son-in-law and to promise him his kingdom 
upon his own death. The English occupied Paris and nearly 
all the north of the kingdom. Charles's own son, the dauphin, 
was declared barred from the succession to the throne of his 
fathers. 1 France seemed on the very point of becoming an 
English dependency, when in 1422, Henry V and Charles VI 
both died, almost simultaneously. The claimant alike to 
England and France was now the former's son, Henry VI (of 
England), an infant of barely nine months. 

95. Jeanne d'Arc (1429-31). The former " dauphin " was 
now, to really loyal Frenchmen, " King" Charles VII (1422- 
61), but he had little power in the realm north of the Loire. 
The English were in Paris and firmly intrenched in all the 
northern districts. On the eastern side the great Duke of 
Burgundy (Philip, son of the murdered Duke John) was their 
ally. The infant Henry VI was proclaimed as king in nearly 
half of France, and his uncle and regent, the Duke of Bedford, 
was a skillful and active warrior. As for the dauphin, 2 " a 
lazy, kindly, good-looking prince," he seemed incapable of 
honest or strenuous exertion. His court was the scene of selfish 
factions. His captains were ill-supported and worse directed. 
His remnants of power seemed crumbling. Yet only a little 
was needed to kindle France into desperate resistance. The 
English were hated. Even the Burgundians disliked their 

1 The dauphin had been personally involved in the murder of John, Duke of 
Burgundy, and this made the entire "Burgundian" faction willing to prefer an 
Englishman, rather than him, as king. 

2 So he was still called by many even of his loyal subjects, never having been 
crowned and consecrated at Rheims — the religious capital of France. 



176 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



allies. The English soldiery were valorous, but by no means 
numerous enough to conquer and hold a bitterly hostile land. 
What France needed was an inspiration and a leader. Both 
were supplied in one of the most remarkable characters in 
history — Jeanne d'Arc. 
Jeanne d'Arc, " the Maid " (la Pucelle), as the French have 

fondly called her, was a 
humble peasant girl of the 
village of Domremy, in 
Champagne. Beginning in 
1423, she began (she as- 
serted) to have visions of 
angels, with a message 
which became increasingly 
definite. " Jeanne," spoke 
an archangel, " go deliver 
the King of France, and 
restore him to his king- 
dom." " Ah! my Lord, 
I am only a poor girl: how 
can I lead men-at-arms! " 
— " St. Catherine and St. 
Margaret will aid you." 
For six years the visions 
continued. At length she 
convinced her kin/lred and 
the local commandant of 
her divine mission. She cut 
off her long hair, put on 
male garments, and with a 
across France to Chinon, the castle of 




STATUE OF JEANNE D'ARC 
Place des Pyramides, Paris 



Off 



small escort set 
Charles. 

What followed reads like romance, but is perfectly authentic 
history. Already the war was at a crisis — the English were 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 



177 



besieging Orleans, one of the main props of what remained 
of the kingdom. Jeanne convinced the doubtful king and the 
scoffing courtiers that she came with a divine mission. 1 An 
army was put at her disposal. With a military skill which 
added to the enthusiasm she inspired in the soldiers by her 
nobility of character and her modest simplicity, she forced her 




SIEGE OF A CITY IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 
Note the large shields, the scaling-ladders, and the crossbows. 
(From a manuscript of FroissarVs Chronicles, in the Bibliotheque 
Nationale) 

way into Orleans, then by a successful sortie drove the English 
from their lines. Orleans was saved: the tide had turned in 
favor of France ; and Jeanne followed up her astonishing success 
by conducting Charles VII through the heart of the enemy's 
country to Rheims, where, amid "pomp and circumstance/' he 
was crowned king in the great cathedral. 

1 Modern worldly wisdom would have declared her " the victim of hallucina- 
tions." Jeanne's contemporaries asked (in this case more wisely), "Is she inspired 
by God or the Devil?" — and, determining it was "by God," followed her. 



178 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

So far her career had been one of unparalleled success, but 
the French courtiers had become shamefully jealous of her. 
In her further attempts upon the English she was ill-supported. 
In 1430, she was captured at Compiegne. The English had 
already denounced her as a witch ; now subservient churchmen 
caused her to be tried in the Inquisition. One of the foulest 
scenes in human annals was when the Bishop of Beauvais, 
with every kind of argument and plain threats of the rack, 
tried to wring from this pure girl confessions of personal 
iniquity and of dealings with the Devil. The end was inevit- 
able. Despite all threatenings, Jeanne made only very unsatis- 
factory " confession." In 143 1, she was burned at the stake in 
Rouen. She met her end with such noble heroism and reli- 
gious § stedf as tness that her tormentors trembled. " We are 
lost! " cried an English witness; " we have burned a saint." 1 

Charles VII, who had used her services, and who almost 
owed his crown to her, did nothing in her behalf. Probably he 
was glad to be rid of such irregular aid. On him, more than on 
the justly terrified English, must fall the anathemas of history. 2 

06. The end of the war (1453). But Jeanne's work was 
almost done. England was lapsing again into internal strife, 
and could not keep up her forces in France. Duke Philip of 
Burgundy was weary of alliance with the alien, and in 1435 he 
concluded (in return for heavy concessions) a treaty with 
Charles VII, whereby his great influence was transferred again 
to the French side. After that, what with the new fighting 
spirit enkindled by Jeanne, the English were hopelessly on 
the defensive. In 1436, they lost Paris, then little by little 
their other holdings until, in 1449, Rouen, their Norman 

1 As soon as the war was decided in favor of the French, the Church trial of 
Jeanne was set aside by the Roman authorities as utterly illegal and void. Quite 
recently, she has been declared one of the "Blessed" by the Catholic Church. 

2 Charles could readily have saved her. In his custody were various noble 
Englishmen. The mere threat that their fate would be the same as Jeanne's 
would have sufficed. 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 179 

stronghold, fell, and in 145 1, Bordeaux, the city in the south 
which they had held for hundreds of years. In 1453, there 
came a great victory of the French over an English force at 
Castillon 1 (near Bordeaux), and the war was over. French 
national integrity was secure forever. 

Charles VII never repented of his execrably supine conduct 
in allowing Jeanne d'Arc to perish, but in his later years he 
displayed an energy and an ability as a ruler which she would 
have rejoiced to see. Once more law and order ruled ; the hordes 
of disbanded mercenary soldiers (" flayers ") were broken up. 
Prosperity returned, after generations of devastating war. In 
the crucible of sore affliction, France had found herself. She 
was more united now; more loyal to her king; less feudalized. 
She was, in short, in a position to develop into the first country 
of Europe — but she had bought this preparation at a terrible 
price. To get rid of the mercenary bands and the English, the 
king had been. allowed to maintain a standing army. To pay 
the costs of this army through the long war he had been allowed 
to tax his subjects almost at will. Both of these privileges 
the French kings carefully retained after the English danger 
ended. With a standing army and with very arbitrary powers 
of taxation, the monarchs of France could go far on the road 
which leads to absolutism. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Salic Law; Crecy; the Black Death; the Black Prince; 
Poitiers; Bretigny ; Armagnacs; Burgundians; Henry V; Jeanne d'Arc. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Crecy; Calais; Poitiers; Agincourt; Orleans; Compiegne; 
Domremy; Bordeaux; Castillon. 

(b) Mark lands in France held by England at the beginning of the 
war. 

1 By this time the French had learned how to deal with the tactics of the 
archers and had developed a very tolerable archer force of their own. They had 
also the use of the newly invented artillery. 



180 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

(c) Mark the English territories in France at the time of the Peace 
of Bretigny. 

(d) Mark the English territory in France in 1429. 

3. What conditions made hostility between England and France inevit- 
able? 

4. The English archers — their skill and importance. 

5. Why was Calais important? 

6. What was the effect of the Black Death upon England and France? 

7. Compare the work of Charles V of France with the work of Henry II 
of England. 

8. How did the Agincourt campaign resemble that of Crecy? 

9. The Treaty of Troyes. 

10. What were the conditions in France at the coming of Jeanne d'Arc? 

11. The work of Jeanne d'Arc. Her trial. 

12. What are the reasons for the final triumph of the French? 

13. Wriat were the conditions in France during the later years of Charles 
VII's reign? 

EXERCISES 

1. How were the expenses of the war paid, in both France and England? 

2. The English armies — how organized? Compare with the organization 

of the French. 

3. The relations between the nobles and non-nobles in the English armies. 
Compare with similar relations in the French army. 

4. The strategy of the Crecy campaign. 

5. The Black Death and its economic effects. 

6. The Black Prince and the Spanish Expedition. 

7. "States General " of France 1302-1439. 

8. Henry V as a warrior. Why did he renew the war? 

9. The career of Jeanne d'Arc. How do you explain her success? 
10. The economic effects of the war upon France; upon England. 



READINGS 

Sources. Ogg: chapter xxv. Robinson: nos. 197-202. 

Modem Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 179-87, 192-204. Duruy: pp. 187-247. 

Any good textbook in English history (as Ransome, pp. 242-78; 

3I3-39)- 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 

97. Edward I and Scotland, In 1272, there came to the 
throne of England one of the greatest of her kings, Edward I. 
Not merely was he a statesman of very high ability in whose 
reign the English Parliament assumed a shape which it was 
to preserve with little change for many generations; 1 but he 
undertook to bring the two outlying Celtic fragments of Great 
Britain under Anglo-Norman supremacy. Wales, where the 
descendants of the old Britons had hitherto remained practi- 
cally independent, was now invaded (1276-84), its prince 
Llewelyn, who disowned Edward's overlordship, was beaten 
down, and after his death (1282), the whole of this small rocky 
country was brought under English supremacy (1284). From 
this time onward, " Prince of Wales " has been the regular title 
of the heir to the English crown. 

But Wales presented only the minor part of Edward's 
problem. Scotland was a far larger country, and offered tena- 
cious resistance. Since William the Conqueror's day the king 
of this northern fraction of Britain had " done homage " to 
England ; but the hold of the Scotch kings upon their own sub- 
jects was very weak. In the " Lowlands " (South Scotland), 
where there was a strong infusion of Anglo-Saxon settlers, 
something like law, order, and royal authority prevailed. In 
the " Highlands " (North Scotland), the wild Gaelic clans 
owed far more allegiance to their various chiefs than to any 
king. Civilization (even from a mediaeval standpoint) had 
been very backward in Scotland ; but in the thirteenth century 
better things had prevailed, and the country had made consid- 

1 See chapter xi, p. 122. 



182 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

erable peaceful progress. Now the sudden death of King 
Alexander III (1286) precipitated a disputed succession and the 
inevitable civil war, whereof Edward took prompt advantage. 
In 1292, he thrust Baliol (one of the claimants) upon the Scot- 
tish throne as his vassal. In 1296, he forced this puppet king 
to resign, and undertook to rule Scotland in his own right, as 
an actual appanage of England. 

Englishmen soon held the castles and the chief government 
posts in Scotland, but the patriotic and jealous people blazed 
up in revolt. They found a gallant and capable leader in Sir 
William Wallace. The revolt he headed in 1297 swept nearly 
all the English from the land, and reduced their power to a few 
castles; but Edward hastened north with a great army. At 
Falkirk (1298) he won a complete victory, and the rebellion 
seemed broken. Wallace was presently betrayed by a traitor 
and put to a shameful death. The head of this patriot long 
bleached above one of the gates of London. But the Scotch 
national spirit was merely bent, not broken. In 1306, Robert 
Bruce (a rival claimant for the crown with Baliol) kindled a new 
revolt; and Edward I died while on his way again to Scotland, 
leaving the problem of conquest to a weak successor. 

98. Robert Bruce and Bannockburn (13 14). Edward II 
(1307-27), son of Edward I, was one of the most feeble kings 
who ever occupied the English throne. When after many 
delays he assembled a great army and invaded Scotland, the 
whole of the outraged northern kingdom had rallied around 
their sovereign, Bruce. At Bannockburn, one hundred thousand 
English are said to have confronted thirty thousand Scots. 
The miserably commanded " Southrons " could make little 
use of their numbers, and Bruce gained a complete victory. 
This battle made abiding history. The English entered Scot- 
land again in later days as ravagers, but never with the real 
intent of permanent conquest. When Bruce died in 1329, 
Scottish national independence had been fairly won. 



THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 183 



This great struggle with England, however, had wrought 
permanent harm. Britain was kept divided between two dis- 
trustful and often hostile nations. During the next two centu- 
ries Scotland was usually the ally of England's standing enemy, 
France, and was involved in wars wherein she had very slight 
interest. Again, this severance from her richer and more 
civilized neighbor stunted her peaceful growth, and condemned 
her to isolation, weak government, and many bloody wars and 
feuds. Yet, notwithstanding these misfortunes, the successful 
defense made by the Scots against national absorption by their 
great rival must stand as one of the most creditable pages in 
the story of the nations. 

99. Wiclif and Richard II. A large part of the history of 
England for the next 
century and more 
is that of the Hun- 
dred Years' War 
with France. 1 But 
the achievements 
of Englishmen were 
not merely those of 
warriors. The four- 
teenth century was 
the age of Geoffrey 
Chaucer, the first 
great poet in the 
noble array of writ- 
ers in the develop- 
ing English tongue : 
it was also the age 
of a religious innovator, who launched a movement which 
caused no small trouble to the Church, and was a forewarning 
of the greater commotions of the Protestant Reformation. 

1 See chapter xv. 




A GROUP OF CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 
As described in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. {From 
Cutis' s Parish Priests) 



1 84 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

John Wiclif l (about 1320-84) was an English priest and a 
professor of the University of Oxford, who presently developed 
into a most daring theologian. He made use of the current dis- 
cussion of the worldly doings of politically minded Popes and 
prelates to subject the whole Church system to a criticism such 
as it had never faced before in the Middle Ages. The more 
orthodox churchmen of the day shuddered at his " blasphe- 
mies " — his denial of the miracle of transubstantiation; 2 his 
affirmation that regularly ordained priests were not necessary 
for a layman who wished to approach God ; his stress upon the 
free interpretation of the Bible, even by the unlearned. Wiclif, 
however, was a man of organizing ability and personal magnet- 
ism, as well as a' learned theologian. High noblemen protected 
him in his lifetime. His itinerant " poor priests " carried his 
most informal gospel out among the peasantry. Indeed, part 
of his doctrine may be accounted a potent factor in the Peas- 
ants' Revolt of 1381. 3 He questioned the necessity of paying 
tithes to the priest, and a discontented peasantry was not slow 
to apply a similar challenge to the payment of rent, whether 
on land or in service, to landlords. He crowned his work by 
translating the Bible into English. It was before the days of 
printing, yet many copies seem to have been made, and 
Wiclifs version is one of the monuments of English literature. 

After his death his followers, the Lollards, 4 for some time 
made considerable head among the peasantry, but the Church 
authorities at length stirred up the Government to halt their 
propaganda by the standard means of stake and fagots (1401). 
As a sect they disappeared, yet not so certainly their tradition 

1 His name is also spelled Wy cliff e and several other ways. In this age many 
English spellings seem to have been decidedly "phonetic." 

2 The teaching of the Catholic Church that the bread and wine in the com- 
munion, upon the consecration by the priest, really become the actual body and 
blood of Christ. 

3 See p. 186. 

4 The word is commonly derived from the German Lollen (to sing), from the 
hymn-chanting habits of the Wiclifites. 



THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 185 

and influence, which may have made many Englishmen ready 
for the great religious revolt started by Luther. 

100. The rising of the peasants and the rule of the House of 
Lancaster. The worthless Edward II was followed by the brave 
and victorious Edward III (1327-77). The story of his wars in 



|jHnmiKte^aUfammq^qtat<#)~ Qinipilvebut j)Jt£ oi fa^ i ftta (M 




-£..xT. 



CORONATION OF AN ENGLISH KING IN THE 

FOURTEENTH CENTURY 
(Either Edward II or Edward III) . (From a sixteenth- 
century miniature at Cambridge, England) 

France is told elsewhere. x At home in England the middle of 
his long reign was marked by the frightful Black Death, 
which in 1349 swept away one third to one half of the popu- 
lation of England. The direct misery caused was appalling, 

1 Chapter xv. 



186 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

and almost as severe was the wretchedness arising from the 
unsettling of all trade, industry, and commerce. Where were 
the human hands left to till the fields and reap the harvests? 
The prices for necessities rose, and the demands by the surviv- 
ing peasants for higher wages naturally rose also. Such inso- 
lence on the part of " valiant laborers," taking advantage of the 
dearth to require more pay, filled the nobles and gentry con- 
trolling the Government with savage wrath. The famous 
kl Statute of Laborers " then passed forbade the bestowal of 
alms upon an " able-bodied vagrant," fixed the maximum wage 
it was lawful to pay him, and finally forbade him to emigrate 
to other districts where he might better his condition. 

For years thereafter the English peasantry were in a state 
of simmering discontent. 1 Early in the reign of Richard II 
(1377-99), Edward's grandson and successor, a prince of very 
inferior stamp, the climax came. A great revolt shook the 
peasantry of England (1381). 2 A severe poll-tax imposed by 
the royal Government, and falling heavily upon the poorest 
classes, was the pretext for the rising. Tumultuous bands of 
peasants burned the manor houses of the squires, — their 
oppressive landlords, — murdered the king's officers, and 
marched on London, demanding of the young king that he " free 
us forever, us and our lands; and that we be never named nor 
held for serfs." Needless to say, the nobles and country 
gentry soon had all the military power on their side. Some of 
the peasants were cajoled by false promises to go home, the 
rest were overcome and their leaders hanged. 

Yet the revolt had not been in vain. The dread of another 
such outbreak hung as a millstone over the country landlords. 
The enfranchisement of the serfs, which is said to have been 

1 Wild theories of social equality were afoot. Said the "mad priest" John 
Bull, one of the preachers of sedition, — 

" When Adam delved and Eve span, 
Who was then the gentleman ? " 

2 From its leader called "Wat Tyler's Revolt." 



THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 187 

halted by the Black Death, now went quietly on, until within 
a century and a half after the great rising had " failed," there 
was hardly a " villein " in all England. In place of the serfs 
had come a sturdy class of free peasant farmers, who were to 
do their share in making England a great nation. 

This upheaval had come early in the reign of Richard II; 
later the king's general mismanagement led to a revolt of the 
nobility, which had a very different issue. Henry of Lancaster, 
the king's cousin, by skillful intrigues was chosen to reign, and 
inaugurated a new (Lancastrian) dynasty. 

Henry IV (1399-1413) was a clever and masterful king, who 
built up for himself a power all the greater for being constitu- 
tionally won. During his reign the cause of the Commons in 
Parliament made a great advance in freedom and influence. ! 
Henry IV has been overshadowed in history by the more 
showy and heroic career of his son Henry V 2 (1413-22), but the 
unobtrusive developments of the former reign were of real 
benefit to England, while Henry V's French wars, conducted 
brilliantly though they were, wasted great numbers of lives 
and much money in disastrous and unnatural attempts to 
unite the Crowns of France and England. 

In 1422, his death gave the rule nominally to his infant son 
Henry VI (1422-61). During the regency for this unlucky 
prince the French conquests dropped away 3 and the English 
Government at home drifted into increasing difficulties. In 
1453, the king became practically insane, and although he 

1 Important in the successful alliance of King and Commons was the crushing 
of the great uprising of the northern nobles, among whom was the redoubtable 
Harry Percy (Hotspur), at the battle of Shrewsbury (1403). 

2 The stories, honored by Shakespeare, about his wild youth are none too well 
authenticated. Both Henry V, and even more his father, Henry IV, were obliged 
— probably thanks to their dubious title to the crown — to make great conces- 
sions to the claims of the Commons in Parliament to take part in the government. 
These concessions became a model and precedent for the Parliament party 
two hundred years later, while contending with the Stuart kings. (See chapter 

XXIV.) 

3 See p. 178. 



1 88 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

recovered a certain lucidity later, here was really the culminat- 
ing misfortune for the Lancastrian House. Discredited in 
France, inefficient at home, the Government was now attacked 
by a coalition of nobles led by the Duke of York, and England 
was plunged into a series of civil wars which, for the nonce, 
ruined her power abroad and reduced the one-time dominator 
of France into a distracted second-class nation. 

101. The Wars of the Roses (145585). For thirty years, 
with occasional happy ^intervals of peace, England was racked 
by a succession of bloody wars between the Lancastrians 
(" Red Rose ") and the princes of the rival Yorkists ("White 
Rose ")• The moving spirits were really parties of ambitious 
and lawless nobles who had got almost completely out of 
kingly control. In 146 1, the weak and " saintly " Henry VI 
was deposed by the Yorkist leader, who assumed the throne as 
Edward IV (1461-83). He was a fine warrior and a clever man, 
but indolent and utterly selfish. Then the weathercock of 
feudal loyalty turned. In 1470, Edward was chased as a 
fugitive to Flanders and the unfortunate Henry VI was again 
proclaimed. In 1471, Edward returned, crushed the Lancas- 
trians in the great battle of Tewkesbury, and made bloody 
work with his prostrate enemies. Henry died a prisoner (prob- 
ably murdered) in the Tower of London, and Edward IV ended 
his reign amid comparative peace, although the contest was by 
no means ended. 

102. The bad King Richard III (1483-85). Edward IV had 
left a son (Edward V) and a still younger brother; but the new 
king was only thirteen, and his uncle the Duke of Gloucester 
was proclaimed " protector " of the kingdom. The regent was 
one of the most unscrupulous and cruel of all the evil nobles 
bred by the civil wars. Within three months Edward V and his 
brother " disappeared " in the Tower of London, 1 and their 

1 There is every moral proof (though not legal proof) that these "little 
princes in the Tower" were murdered by their dastardly uncle. Richard had 



THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 189 

guardian, "urged" by the citizens of London and others, took 
the title of Richard III. In 1485, Henry, Earl of Richmond, the 
successor to the old Lancastrian claims, raised the standard of 
rebellion, and at the battle of Bosworth Richard, deserted by 
nearly all his followers, died fighting desperately with a bravery 
which contrasted with his vileness. 

Bosworth ended the civil wars: the land had, indeed, need 
of rest. 

103. Henry VII, restorer of law and order (1485-1509). 
Henry VII, " Henry Tudor " and Earl of Richmond before he 
won the crown by conquest, was not a redoubtable warrior 
nor an original statesman : but England needed neither of these. 
She needed a benevolent despot, who (without abolishing the 
forms of law) would crush down the turbulence of the nobility 
who had almost usurped the government during the civil wars, 
enforce common justice, refrain from needless wars, and give 
the commonalty orderly prosperity : — and such a monarch 
was Henry VII. The' Wars of the Roses had killed off a very 
large number of the nobles, and it was therefore easy for the 
king to overwhelm the remainder by raising to those peerages 
now vacant men of his own choosing, who had proved their 
skill as middle-class merchants and who would owe their eleva- 
tion entirely to the king himself. After some vain struggles, 
the few survivors among the great nobles, who had maintained 
small standing armies of their own and defied the common 
course of justice, found their power broken. The lords had paid 
scant respect to the ordinary judge and jury : they now found 
themselves haled before a special royal court of " Star 
Chamber" 1 and punished for their usurpations. High-born 

earlier been guilty, very possibly, of the murder of his brother, the Duke of 
Clarence. 

1 A special commission chosen for most of its members from the king's 
Privy Council. Such a court could not, of course, be intimidated as could an 
ordinary tribunal. This court became later a great engine of oppression. Origi- 
nally it was usually a terror only to "noble" evildoers. 



i go HISTORY OF EUROPE 

friends of the king were not exempted. When the king visited 
the Earl of Oxford, he cast a frowning look upon the earl's array 
of " gentry and yeomen" drawn up as if to do him honor. " I 
thank you for your hospitality," spoke Henry, " but I cannot 
allow my laws to be broken in my sight "; and the Star Cham- 
ber fined Oxford £i5,ooo 1 for maintaining an armed force of 
private retainers contrary to the statute. 

Some of Henry's measures were utterly despotic. In place 
of new taxes on the people at large, he wrung out of his wealthier 
subjects " benevolences," which were really nothing but forced 
contributions; but such measures were obnoxious only to a 
limited class. 2 When Henry died, he left a full treasury, a con- 
tented people, and valuable foreign alliances to his successor. 

Henry VII stood at the parting of the ways between mediae- 
val and modern times. His reign saw the beginning of English 
maritime expansion. In 1497, J°hn Cabot had made the first 
voyage under the English flag to North America. Building thus 
upon the somewhat commonplace prosperity established by 
Henry, England was about to enter upon her wonderful six- 
teenth century. 

104. England at the end of the Middle Ages. In 1500, Eng- 
land was still a distinctly agricultural country, with almost no 
large town outside of London, and very little foreign trade 
save the export of natural products and a little cloth. 3 Thus 
economically she was backward (as compared with most parts 
of France), but politically she had made marked progress. 
She had a firm government and well-established political and 

1 Possibly ten times as much in modern money, purchasing power considered. 

2 Cardinal Morton (Henry's prime minister) invented what was known as 
''Morton's fork" for dealing with reluctant "givers out of their benevolence." 
"If a man lived handsomely, he was told that he clearly had money to spare. If 
he lived plainly, that he was saving money and was rich enough to help the 
king." 

3 All through the period of the Wars of the Roses, the non-noble free farmers 
(yeomanry) had been coming into respectable prominence; there had also been 
a considerable development of cloth manufacture which enabled the English 
to compete with the Flemish woolen trade. 



THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 191 

legal institutions. 1 Her Tudor kings had almost despotic 
power, gained principally by their ability in interpreting and 
manipulating the existing laws in their own favor, rather than 
in arbitrarily setting them aside. Again, the kings had no 
formidable standing army. Their power rested on the general 
support and loyalty of their subjects, and they were quite 
aware of the fact and governed accordingly. The Parliaments 

•-■-» Ipflf to 6notbe $e ctaf & of fclfcme go* 
imm pfc, Qjtno fo fet to fop OMrfpnuettglfc 
W* of fre &o?/ fa d*|j maj* not «H) fc 

® i. 

FACSIMILE SPECIMEN OF CAXTON'S PRINTING 
The art of printing was brought to England in 1477 

were extremely dependent upon the royal will, but the king 
never undertook to govern without them. Theoretically there 
was lawful consent given for even the most extreme acts of 
oppression ; and this perpetuation of parliamentary institutions 
was to make the erection of genuine political liberties later very 
easy — it being necessary merely to give real freedom and 
vitality to existing forms. The next crisis, however, confront- 
ing England was not political but religious — she was to give 
her own peculiar answer to the question of separating from 
Rome. 

105. The English in Ireland. All through the later Middle 
Ages the English kings had been putting forth their hands upon 
the great Celtic island to the westward. Ireland had probably 

1 Particularly the nobility had been stripped of nearly all their political 
advantages except the hereditary seats of the "Lords" in Parliament. There 
were fewer "privileges" for the upper classes, and more general equality before 
the law for all classes of men in England than in any other large country, while 
serfage was almost extinct. 



192 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

been as civilized a land as Anglo-Saxon England before the 
Norman Conquest: 1 but it had been rent asunder by tribal 
wars; petty kings had contended for petty kingdoms, and no 
strong native ruler had ever consolidated the clans under his 
authority. The Danes, too, had harried Ireland sorely, about 
the time that they were ravaging England. In 1169, a band of 
Anglo-Norman nobles crossed from England and began a 
conquest on their own authority. 2 King Henry II (fearing lest 
a kingdom ruled by his former subjects would become a dan- 
gerous neighbor) himself invaded Ireland in 1172. The Celtic 
chiefs were soon beaten down, and henceforth the foreign 
power never loosed its grip from the feud-rent island. But while 
the English could conquer, they could not really subdue: their 
settlers themselves often drifted into Irish speech and customs, 
and the power of the royal viceroys was seldom formidable 
beyond Dublin and the " English Pale " - the district 
adjacent. 

This miserable condition of half-conquest continued for 
centuries. The English kings were unable to dispatch the 
relays of armies needful for a real subjugation: the Irish were 
unable to effect a union (like that of Wallace and Bruce in 
Scotland) and to drive the alien from the land. The result was, 
of course, perpetual petty warfare, raiding, tyranny, and bloody 
reprisal which make the story of " Celt and Saxon " one of the 
most melancholy in the world. When the Reformation came 
and the English accepted Protestantism, the bulk of the Irish 
were ready — thanks to long centuries of animosity — to see 
everything good in the old Catholic religion of their fathers. So 
to national hatred was added religious hatred, and the " Irish 

1 According to the stories of the life of St. Patrick, the great Irish saint (372- 
454), Ireland was among the most highly civilized countries in the world at the 
dawn of the Middle Ages. Thanks to St. Patrick, Ireland was converted to 
Christianity nearly two centuries before Anglo-Saxon England. 

2 This conquest came as a direct result of the feuds among the Irish chiefs 
themselves. One of them sought help in England and was authorized by 
Henry II to obtain it among the Norman barons. 



THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 193 

Question/' with all its woes, was sharpened to vex British 
politics, and to be a sore bane to England hardly less than to 
Ireland even down to the present day. 



REVIEW 

1. Topics — William Wallace; Robert Bruce; Bannockburn; Chaucer; 
Wiclif; Transubstantiation; Lollards; the Lancastrian Kings; Wars of 
the Roses; Richard III; Henry Tudor; Star Chamber; Benevolences; 
the English Pale; St. Patrick. 

2. Geography — Locate Bannockburn; Oxford; Bosworth; Dublin; the 
English Pale. 

3. Edward I and Scotland. 

4. The work of Robert Bruce. 

5. The teachings and influence of Wiclif. 

6. What made the Wars of the Roses possible? How did these wars affect 
England? 

7. Compare the effects of the Wars of the Roses upon England with the 
effects of the Hundred Years' War upon France. 

8. The character of Richard III. 

9. What did Henry VII accomplish for England? By what means? 

10. What were the conditions in Ireland at the time of the English con- 
quest? Did Ireland improve under English control? Why? 



EXERCISES 

• 

1. The conquest of Wales. Origin of the title "Prince of Wales." 

2. Did Baliol have the best claim to the Scottish throne ? 

3. The character of William Wallace. 

4. Robert Bruce. 

5. The relations between France and Scotland at the time of Edward I. 

6. Relations between England and Scotland under Edward III. 

7. Geoffrey Chaucer. 

8. Wiclif as an author. * 

9. The effect of the Hundred Years' War and the economic changes under 
Edward III upon the power of Parliament. 

10. Richard II and Ireland. 

11. The relations between Henry IV and Parliament. 

12. The persecution of the Lollards. 

13. The Earl of Warwick has been called the "King-Maker"; also the 
"Last of the Barons." Why? 

14. How did the Wars of the Roses affect the towns ? 



i 9 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

15. The foreign policy of Henry VII. 

16. The growth of commerce under Henry VII. 

17. Early Irish civilization. 

READINGS 

Sources. Ogg: chapter xxvu. Robinson: nos. 202, 207-09. 
Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 157-59. Gibbins: pp. 94-101. Any good 
textbook in English history (as Ransome, pp. 205-42: 278-313: 539-92). 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE POPES, THE SCHISM, AND THE COUNCILS 

106. The downfall of Boniface 7/7/(1294-1303). In 1250, 
when Frederick II died, the Popes seemed about to dominate 
the Western world as " God's Vicars," supreme over secular 
kings as well as over matters spiritual. Within two generations 
they had been sorely humiliated, and the secular power had 
put them entirely on the defensive. The new national spirit 
and patriotism, which would rally behind a king, even against 
the Pope, had silently come into being — especially in France. 
The Pope could no longer bring a king to terms by " loosing 
his subjects from their oaths of fealty." The subject people 
simply denied the Pope's right to meddle in non-spiritual 
matters at all, and continued in their loyalty. It took some 
time, however, for the world to realize this change, until a 
masterful and incautious Pope brought about his own humilia- 
tion, and terribly proved the disillusionment of Boniface VIII. 

This Pope began to reign in 1294. He was an elderly, learned, 
personally blameless man, but very ambitious, obstinate, and 
utterly un tactful. His chief antagonist was King Philip IV, 
"the Fair" (1285-1314), of France, the grandson of the 
famous St. Louis, and himself a grasping, capable monarch, 
careless of the means to his end and well served by supple 
ministers. In 1296, the Pope began hostilities by a bull 1 for- 
bidding the clergy of France to pay taxes to the king, 2 and the 

1 A solemn papal pronunciamento. The name comes from the great bulla ( = 
seal) attached to such documents. 

2 The clergy represented possibly one third of the wealth of France. The 
Pope was not so much zealous for their rights as anxious to keep the privilege of 
taxing them for himself. Philip might well ask whether he were an effective 
king if so many of his nominal subjects were exempt from his taxation. 



1 96 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

king had effectively countered by forbidding the export of 
" precious metals and jewels " from the realm, thereby cutting 
off the papal income from France. Boniface made a temporary 
truce, but soon on various minor issues war blazed forth again. 
The Pope asserted his supremacy over kings, quoting the Bible 
to prove that God had raised the Popes " to pluck down, to 
destroy, scatter, rebuild, and plant"; and finally (1302) 
asserted "it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every 
human creature that he be subject to the Roman Pontiff." 1 

In the bold defiance which Philip offered to these claims he 
was sustained by the best sentiment of his whole kingdom. 
The French clergy, no less than the nobility and the free towns, 
loudly professed their loyalty. One of the Pope's bulls was 
actually burned by the public hangman at Paris, and the 
climax came at Anagni (a small town near Rome) in 1303. 

Boniface was there about to promulgate another bull, de- 
claring Philip deposed from his throne, when the town was 
invaded by a loose band of hireling soldiers in the king's pay. 
Boniface's life was threatened: he was grossly insulted and 
flung into a dungeon. In a few days his friends rallied, rescued 
and took him to Rome, but the insult had broken his spirit. 
To be about to depose a mighty king, and then to become the 
prey of semi-bandits ! — the humiliation was deadly. Speedily 
he died (1303), and his high pretensions and abject fate were a 
warning to his successors. " He got in like a fox, 2 he played the 
Pope like a lion, he died like a dog," — so his ill-wishers 
summed up his disastrous pontificate. He was almost the last 
Pope able to utter dangerous threats against great princes. 

107. The " Babylonish Captivity " at Avignon (1305 -78). 
The resistance of France had frightened the worldly-minded 
cardinals. They desired peace with the kings and quiet enjoy- 

1 This is the climax of the famous bull " Unam Sanctam." The papal bulls are 
usually named by their first (Latin) words. 

2 This refers to the very dubious means by which Boniface is said to have pro- 
cured the resignation of his predecessor — Celestine V. 



THE POPES, THE SCHISM, THE COUNCILS 197 

ment of their revenues. In 1305, they chose a Frenchman Pope, 
— Clement V, — who proved himself utterly subservient to 
Philip IV and his political influence. He withdrew the Papal 
Court from Rome to Avignon in southern France. Here for 
more than seventy years the Popes remained, often entirely 
under French control, and leaving Rome " widowed and deso- 
late." The Popes and cardinals built magnificent palaces at 
this " sinful city of Avignon." The Papal Court was reputed 
among good Catholics to be the most luxurious, expensive, and 
withal worldly in Europe. 1 Frenchmen filled all the chief 
offices of the Church, and permitted the grossest kind of 
financial abuses. " The Babylonish Captivity," in short, was 
one long scandal, which did much to undermine the general 
reverence men held for the Church ; yet it was to be followed by 
something worse. 

108. The Great Schism (1378-1415). In 1378, a relatively 
good Pope (Gregory XI) died during a visit to Rome. The 
French cardinals were minded to choose a Pontiff who would 
return with them to their luxurious Avignon; but the Roman 
mob was bent on keeping the Papacy within the sacred city. 
" A Roman ! A Roman ! or at least an Italian, — or your heads 
be as red as your hats! " rang the yells of the multitude as the 
cardinals entered the " Conclave " to elect; while bells rang, 
weapons clashed, and an angry throng roared outside the Vati- 
can palace so long as the cardinals deliberated. 

1 Among the abuses imputed to this Avignon Government were : — 

(a) Nepotism — thrusting of relatives into the offices of the Church. 

(b) Expectatives — the sale in advance of the appointment to an office in the 
Church, whenever the present holder of that appointment might die or resign. 

(c) Unnecessary Dispensations — the release, for a fee, from inconvenient vows 
and churchly impediments. 

(d) Making all Church litigation exceedingly slow, complicated, and conse- 
quently costly. 

(e) Pluralities — Allowing favored churchmen to hold several well-paid church 
offices simultaneously. 

These were all matters of practice. The Church doctrines were not yet in 
question. 



iq8 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



In fear of their lives the cardinals elected, indeed, an Italian, 
— Urban VI, — but a man whom they expected to prove 
subservient to their wishes. It soon appeared that he would be 
to them an unbending master, who utterly refused to return to 
Avignon. The cardinals were wrathful and disappointed. Had 

they not elected Urban 
under compulsion? Was 
he the lawful Pope? A 
few months after this 
first election, the car- 
dinals declared the Pa- 
pacy vacant, and pro- 
eeded to choose a new 
Pontiff, — Clement VII, 
— who speedily went 
to Avignon. 

A momentous ques- 
tion was now propoun- 
ded to every king of 
Europe. Which Pope 
should he recognize? 1 
Urban and Clement 
another, and devoted their 
to the Devil. It was 
should obey the Pope. 






%^fe"Wi 



ITALIAN ECCLESIASTICAL PROCESSION IN 
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 

(From a miniature in a fifleenth-century Breviary 
in the Bibliotheque Nationale) 



mutually excommunicated one 
rivals and all their rival's helpers 
all very well to say a true Christian 
Who was the Pope? Each king had really to settle the matter 
for himself. France, the Spanish kingdoms, and Scotland 
speedily supported Clement, the Avignon Pope: Germany, 
Italy, England, and the other lands chose Urban of Rome. 
The " two obediences" split the " one Church" asunder. 

1 Later Catholic historians consider Urban VI the true Pope and Clement VII 
the Anti-Pope, but it is admitted that Clement was not a vulgar pretender, and 
that a very plausible technical case could be made out on his side. The Church 
never made an authoritative statement as to which claimant represented the 
true line. 



THE POPES, THE SCHISM, THE COUNCILS 199 

Neither Pope could crush his rival. Neither would yield. 
When one died, his cardinals L hastened to elect a successor, who 
continued the strife. There seemed, to the learned university 
" doctors " who wrought long upon the question, only one 
satisfactory solution — a council of the bishops, theologians, 
and learned laymen of the whole Church, before whose 
authority even a Pope must bow. Many good churchmen 
balked at this proposal, but the need was great, and public 
opinion demanded it. 

109. The councils. John Hus. The first council held at 
Pisa (1409) only made bad matters worse. It declared both 
Popes deposed, and chose a new one (Alexander V). Most of 
the nations acknowledged him, but not all; 2 — and there were 
now three Popes dividing Christendom. Moreover, the new 
Pisa Pope soon died, and his successor, John XXIII, was an 
Italian politician of scandalous life whose enemies declared 
that he had spent his youth as a pirate. 3 But a second council 
met in Constance (in southern Germany 1414-18), with much 
greater success. John XXIII, by his slippery dealings and 
pledge-breaking, lost all his supporters and was declared 
deposed in turn. The old " Rome " Pope had the wisdom to 
resign; the old " Avignon " Pope wafe obstinate, but his fol- 
lowers left him in disgust. In 141 7, Christendom rejoiced to 
hear that a new and undoubted Pope had been chosen, — 
Martin V — and the " seamless robe of the Church " was 
reunited, although the hoped-for reformation of the Church 
had not taken place. 

However, the Council of Constance had not merely to heal 
the schism; it had to deal with acute heresy. In Bohemia, 

1 Urban had made haste to " create " a new body of cardinals as soon as he had 
broken with the old ones. 

2 Some districts in Italy still held to the "Rome" Pope (Gregory XII); and 
most of Spain to the "Avignon" Pope (Benedict XIII). 

3 John's moral unworthiness is undoubted, but Catholic historians disclaim 
all responsibility for him, as not being a really lawful Pope. 



2oo HISTORY OF EUROPE 

John Hus, a popular preacher of Prague, the capital city, had 
been infected with the teachings of the Englishman, Wiclif . ' 
Hus soon earned the distrust of the Church authorities by his 
free denunciations of the more worldly clergy and by his tend- 
ency to make very free use of the Bible to justify many doc- 
trines which were, to say the least, only semi-orthodox. He was 
summoned to Constance to give an account of his teachings, 
and seems to have gone willingly, 2 convinced that he could 
bring the council to his way of thinking. When, however, he 
was informed that " the assembled Fathers " adjudged his 
doctrines heresy, he refused stedfastly to recant. " It is better 
for me to die," he asserted, " than to fall into the hands of the 
Lord by withdrawing from the truth." Under the law of the 
time there could be only one end for him. He was burned at 
Constance (1415), and the ashes of " the execrable heretic.' 
were scattered in the Rhine. 3 *\ 

Hus perished, but not his cause. The Bohemians considered 
him a national hero. His friends rose to* avenge him, seized the 
local government, organized a non-Catholic Church in accord- 
ance with his teachings, 4 and raised armies which harried 
Germany and defied every effort by the Church and German 
princes to subdue them (1418-30). Force having failed, the 
Church was induced to try persuasion. A new council was held 
at Basel (143 1), at which the Hussites were treated with an 

1 See p. 184. 

2 He was given a pledge of safe-conduct by the Emperor, which was deliber- 
ately broken by the council on the ground that faith need not be kept with 
heretics, and that the Emperor had no right to promise immunity. 

3 Hus's punishment arose not so much from any specifically unorthodox 
doctrine, but from his whole attitude of questioning the final authorities of the 
Church. His enemies were not worldly-minded prelates, but, according to their 
lights, honest and learned reformers, very anxious to reestablish the Church in 
its purity, but also anxious, while they cast out evil Anti-Popes, not to open the 
door to false doctrine. 

4 The Hussite Church would to-day be considered very " Protestant " in some 
of its methods and doctrines: its cardinal point was especially the bestowal of 
the cup (in the Communion) to the laity as well as to the clergy. The Hussites 
were often called the Calixtines (from calix = cup). 



THE POPES, THE SCHISM, THE COUNCILS 201 



indulgence unusual in the Middle Ages, and readmitted into 
the Church with a special license to retain some of their 
peculiar usages. The Council of Basel, however, was in the 
main a failure. The demand 
for a " reform of the Church 
in head and in members " — 
i.e., the ending of such abuses 
as had marked the Avignon 
regime — was loud in all lands. 
The council, therefore, con- 
tinued long in session and pro- 
posed drastic remedies; but its 
leaders were unwise radicals. 
They quarreled with the Pope 
(Eugenius IV), and disgusted 
the world with an attempt at 
a new schism. As a result the 
council broke up in 1449, nav_ 
ing accomplished extremely 
little. 

no. The final era of the 
mediaeval Papacy. Following 
the fiasco at Basel, no mote 
real efforts were made to re- 
form the Church for two gen- 
erations. The Popes had now 
resigned all attempts to play 
the political dictator over 
kings : they kept their spiritual 
sovereignty over the entire Church, but their real interests 
seemed to be those of temporal princes in Central Italy, — 
ambitious to build up a strong dominion around Rome. 
As a result, while some of these fifteenth-century Popes 
were admirable men, — like the great scholar and patron of 




A CHURCH COUNCIL IN THE 

FIFTEENTH CENTURY 

The Pope is presiding. About him are 

the high prelates. In the lowest rank 

are the abbots. (From a fifteenth-century 

manuscript in the British Museum) 



202 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

learning, Nicholas V (1447-55), — others were worldly in the 
extreme; very " secular " in their lives and policy, given to 
wars, diplomatic intrigues, and all the unworthy artifices which 
then characterized Italian statecraft. The most notorious 
instance of these worldly Popes was Alexander (VI) Borgia, 
(1492-1503) whose cruelties have become a by-word. Mani- 
festly, this failure to recognize the growing need for a general 
reformation of the Church, and the perpetuation of many 
inveterate scandals, could not but work grievous harm to 
the prestige of the Papacy. Within fifteen years of Alexan- 
der's death, his successors were being vexed by an unwelcome 
name — Luther. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Boniface VIII; Philip the Fair; " Unam Sanctam " ; Baby- 
lonish Captivity; Nepotism; Expectatives; Dispensation; Clement V; 
Conclave; Vatican; the Great Schism; Council of Pisa; Council of 
Constance; Martin V; John Hus; Wiclif. 

2. Geography — Locate Rome; Avignon; Pisa; Constance; Prague; Basel. 

3. What was the position of the Papacy under Innocent III? 

4. What had been the general character of the relations between the 
French kings and the Popes? 

5. How do you account for the support given to Philip by his subjects as 
compared with the attitude of the subjects in the other contests? 

6. The Papacy at Avignon. - 

7. The Great Schism. How did the Babylonish Captivity and the Great 
Schism affect the position and influence of the Papacy? Of the whole ' 
Church? 

8. The results of the Councils of Pisa and of Constance. 

9. Compare the work of Hus with that of Wiclif. 

10. How did the position and influence of the Papacy during the last part 
of the fifteenth century compare with its position and influence during 
the last part of the thirteenth century? How do you account for the 
difference? 

EXERCISES 

1. In what did the wealth of the French clergy consist ? 

2. What were the relations between Boniface VIII and Edward I of 
England? 

3. The Babylonish Captivity. 



THE POPES, THE SCHISM, THE COUNCILS 203 

4. Would Wiclif and Hus have made so powerful an impression had there 
been no trouble in the Church? 

5. The subsequent history of the Hussites. 

6. The Council of Basel and Eugenius IV. 

7. The general character of the Popes of the Renaissance. 

8. Alexander Borgia. 

READINGS 

Sources. Ogg: chapters xxm, xxvn (in review) . Robinson: nos. 205-16, 

232<J-32C. 

Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 108-09, 204-09. Lewis: pp. 276-85. 
Symonds: chapter iv. Any English history (for Wiclif, Ransome, pp. 

274/.) 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE RENAISSANCE 

in. The mediaeval universities and schoolmen. As the 

Middle Ages advanced, learning became more general. It was 
no longer quite so exclusively the property of the clergy. It 
was no longer taught solely at the monastery or cathedral 
schools. Especially in Italy, France, and England (and a little 
later in Germany), universities sprang up. At first they were 
merely informal associations of students and their " masters "; 
then gradually they obtained government charters, special 
privileges, a fixed organization, and the power to grant 
" learned degrees." The " capped and gowned " doctor of 
philosophy, law, or theology comes into existence, with a 
prestige and power so great as to constitute almost a rival order 
to the nobility. The influence of these universities on the 
Church is often decisive. Their one-time students become 
bishops, cardinals, Popes. The most famous of these institu- 
tions was the University of Paris, which had been chartered in 
1 200, and for the next three centuries was the leader of enlight- 
enment in Europe. It was, indeed, this university which prac- 
tically arranged the Councils of Pisa and Constance, insured 
their success, and ended the Great Schism. 

The prime study in these universities was, of course, theol- 
ogy, but this was not their exclusive interest. Bologna boasted 
especially her teaching of the civil (old Roman) law; Salerno, 
her medicine. Astonishing energy was devoted to the niceties 
of formal logic and " dialectic " (argumentation). The great 
doctrines of the Church were naturally first accepted as mat- 
ters of faith, then justified by very acute arguments. In non- 
essential religious matters great latitude of discussion was 



THE RENAISSANCE 



205 



often allowed, and mediaeval disputations, if often very arid 
from a modern standpoint, show remarkable sharpness of 
intellect. 1 Thomas Aquinas (1226-74), " the angelic doctor," 
who was perhaps the most famous of these " schoolmen," is 
still considered an almost infallible expositor of Catholic doc- 
trines, and is undoubtedly one of the leading metaphysicians 
of any age. 

The old " scholastic " learning, then, had marked advan- 
tages. It gained by its intensity something of what it had lost 
by its narrow range of subjects. It created an atmosphere of 
interest in intellectual studies, and paved the way for greater 
things, 

112. The new conditions in Italy. During the earlier Middle 
Ages the prevailing view of life (among thoughtful men) had 
been sufficiently austere — that this life was a mere probation, 
in itself evil and painful, before the eternal heaven or the 
eternal hell; 2 temporal benefits were therefore doubtful; tem- 
poral pleasures, still more doubtful. Any studies which did not 
bear on preparing men for their eternal state were useless 
or worse. Especially one must not learn to love too well the 
old pagan Latin writings, for what had heathens like Cicero 
and Virgil — with all their literary charm — to give to pious 

1 Some of the stock "schoolmen's" discussions, after the movement had begun 
to degenerate, were on subjects such as, "How many angels can dance on the 
point of a needle? " The subject seems trivial, but it was excellently adapted for 
its object — the sharpening of fine logical distinctions. 

2 This view of the hereafter, the immanence of the day of judgment, and the 
important bearing of the present life upon man's eternal felicity or misery, is 
well expressed in the opening lines of a twelfth-century hymn by Bernard of 
Cluny. (The succeeding stanzas are often sung in present-day churches as the 
hymn, "Jerusalem the Golden.") 

"The world is very evil, 

The times are waxing late, 
Be sober and keep vigil, 

The Judge is at the gate; 
The Judge who comes in mercy, 

The Judge who comes in might, 
To terminate the evil, 
To diadem the right." 

Neale, translator. 



2o6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Christians? So long as this attitude was taken toward the 
world and human life, intellectual and scientific progress were 
at best handicapped. 

It was in Italy that the first change came in public opinion. 
Italy had always kept more of the old Roman civilization and 
city life than the sterner North. Italy was first quickened by 
the revival of commerce — the growth of such rich cities as 
Venice and Florence. She was also less afflicted by the evils of 
the feudal system. Sadly as her city-states were divided one 
from another, they were usually the seats of elegance and 
luxury; and conditions, too, helped the growth of a leisure 
class, — men of good family, who found no joy in knightly 
fighting, and who, if they went into the Church, had little 
interest in the formal acts of piety. Such men were destined 
to supply most of the professional scholars who now come into 
evidence. 

Again, too, many of the Italian cities, after being ruled 
awhile as turbulent " republics " (faction against faction, 
family against family), sank at length under the rule of local 
despots, — princes often of diabolical cruelty and ruthlessness, 1 
but also men of finesse, elegant manners, and quite able to 
play the " gracious patron " to obsequious poets and scholars, 
even while their victims groaned in the dungeons under the 
palace. 

It was in this peculiar atmosphere, of tense, turbulent, but 
very vital city-republics, or of immoral but highly elegant city- 
despotisms, that the leaders of the " New Thought " grew up 
in Italy. 

113. The Epoch-makers — Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. 
The end of the thirteenth century saw the beginning of what 
has been called the Renaissance, — the " rebirth " of the old 

1 So Verona, Milan, Ferrara, Urbino, and Modena, — not to name many 
others, — were at various times under "tyrants," who were usually strange 
admixtures of art-patrons and unscrupulous blackguards, — alike able to criti- 
cize a painting and to negotiate the poisoning or stilettoing of a rival. 



THE RENAISSANCE 207 

Graeco-Roman culture and art, of interest in secular learning, 
of keen interest in this present world without direct reference 
to its bearing upon the hereafter. This " revival of learning " 
in Italy is attended " by two great achievements, — the dis- 
covery of the world, and the discovery of [the nature of] man." l 
It is a movement of wide activities and interests. Theology 
or fighting no longer engrosses human attention. There are so 
many lines of development that it is impossible to trace more 
than a few, yet through this wonderful fourteenth century 
stand out the names of three great Italians who have done more 
for the world than many famous warriors or kings — Dante, 
Petrarch, and Boccaccio. 

Dante (1265-1321), born at beautiful Florence, but banished 
forever from his homeland in .1301, is more the herald of the 
Renaissance than its actual champion. He (like all learned 
men) wrote much and ably in Latin; but his fame rests on the 
" Divine Comedy " — one of the world's very greatest poems, 
wherein he sums up in a single composition almost the whole 
of mediaeval erudition, political theory, and religious aspiration 
in his vision of inferno, purgatory, and heaven. And the 
" Divine Comedy " is not in Latin, but in Italian. 2 The mere 
fact that so great a poem could be written in a national ver- 
nacular is a witness that the Middle Ages were passing. 

The second great spirit was Petrarch (1302-74), also of 
Florentine parentage, 3 a great lyric poet whose sonnets in 
praise of " Laura " have won deserved immortality. But 
Petrarch's real glory was as a new kind of Latinist. His Latin 
lore was very different from that of the monkish theologians. 
He was practically the founder of later-day classical learning. 
He studied the old authors intelligently and critically; tried 

1 Michelet. 

2 Dante is said to have hesitated ere writing on so noble a subject in so crude 
a language as the Italian vernacular, and therefore came near ruining his great 
poem by writing it in Latin. 

3 He was actually born in the small city of Arezzo. 



208 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



to fathom their real meaning; rescued nigh-forgotten manu- 
scripts; in short, made all but a religion of his passion for 
antiquity. To him Cicero and Tacitus were not " lost heathen," 
but almost saints whose works and words were to be treasured 
as semi-inspired. He was transported with awe-struck delight 
when a copy of Homer was given him, although he could hardly 

read a word of the Greek. 
Petrarch, therefore, stands 
in history as the first 
great secular scholar the 
modern jrorld had seen; 
and it w<i s a notable day 
when a g I "ted man would 
dedicate J is life to learn- 
ing, simpi - for learning's 
sake. 

Lessfam us but hardly 
less influe\''al was Pe- 
trarch's friend. Boccaccio 
(i3!3 - 75)- 1 He, like 
Petrarch, was a zealous 
collector of Greek and 
Latin manuscripts, and 
composed treatises on 
classical history and 
mythology which were 
to be the starting-point for much later scholarship. But his 
place in history was won by his " Decameron," a collection 
(in Italian) of graceful tales (" short stories " they might well 
be called), which, by their ingenuity, wit, and skill of nar- 
ration, became models for almost every later novelist and 




DECORATIVE TITLE (reduced) 
Of a manuscript copy of Le Roman dc la Rose, 
a romance of the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 
turies. {In the Bibliotheqne Nationale) 



1 He was born in Paris but of Italian parentage, and he spent most of his life 
in Italy. — " Dante was admired: Petrarch was praised: Boccaccio was read," 
is a striking summary given of the achievements of these three immortals. 



THE RENAISSANCE 209 

furnished ideas and actual plots for such English writers as 
Chaucer and Shakespeare. Before Boccaccio's day " story- 
telling " had been the trivial task of wandering minstrels and 
mountebanks: after him it became an art which might engage 
the greatest literary genius. 

It is a sign of the progress of the Italians in their love of 
secular learning that Boccaccio, before his death, became a 
lecturer at the University of Florence, commissioned to ex- 
pound the " Divine Comedy." So we have with him the 
beginning also of the literary criticism of modern literatures, 
another step away from the old " scholastic " curriculum. 

114. The " New Learning " For about a century and a half 
after Boccaccio's death, the main interest of many of the best 
minds of Italy was centered upon the recovery of the life, let- 
ters, ideas, and ideals of the ancient world. An enormous stress 
was laid upon the writing of pure elegant Ciceronian Latin. 1 
" I fear a single letter from the pen of Salutati more than a 
thousand horsemen," spoke the tyrant of Milan of a certain 
secretary to the Republic of Florence famous for his masterly 
Latin style. The zeal for Latin studies, in fact, sometimes ran 
to absurdities. " ' Virtue,' which meant manliness in the 
Roman Age, and goodness in the Middle Ages, in the revival 
of learning meant mainly a knowledge of Latin." 2 

Latin literature, however, only summed up one half of 
antiquity — perhaps the less valuable half. Truly to revive 
the old learning, one must have Greek, and Greek study had 
almost perished in the West during the Middle Ages, though 
the monks sometimes made unintelligent transcripts of Greek 
manuscripts. Petrarch and Boccaccio knew very little Greek, 
but the next age advanced far beyond them. Constantinople 
was still a Christian city. Greek scholars drifted thence to 

1 The mediaeval "monk's Latin," though often very vigorous, contained many 
uncouth forms and words, and sometimes was so intermixed with terms from the 
local vernacular as to become "hog Latin," indeed. 

2 Sandys, Revival of Learning, p. 56. 



210 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Italy. In 1396, a famous Greek teacher, Chrysoloras, settled 
in Florence, and the youths of the city flocked around him. 
From this time onward, Homer, Plato, Sophocles, and their 
peers, were " given back to Europe," and in their own tongue. 
All the matchless wealth of the Greek intellect in history, 
philosophy, physics, and art was now at the disposal of men of 
the West at the very moment that they were emerging from the 
disorders of the Middle Ages and able to make fertile use of 
new ideas. In 1453, the Turks, indeed, took Constantinople, 
but Greek studies and books were being treasured elsewhere. 
" Greece had not perished," we are told by a scholar of the age, 
" but had emigrated to Italy." And Greece continues to supply 
the bases for a great proportion of the thought of the world 
even to this day. 

115. The revival of " the joy of living." The revival of 
Graeco-Roman studies brought with it the revival of the old 
Graeco-Roman ideals. The world was not a gloomy place of 
probation, after all, but a joyous habitation full of possibilities 
and stirring experiences. Men continued to call themselves 
" good Catholics," but often their reverence for the Church 
became merely formal. Scholars founded " Platonic acade- 
mies," and even imitated the old pagan sacrifices and temple 
rites. Morality was sacrificed to the mere delight of " knowing 
the world," and indulging in all manner of new sensations. 
When the old restraints were withdrawn, men often became 
unscrupulous in the pursuit of any darling ambition. 1 Hence 
the stories of intrigues and elegant criminality with which this 
Italian age is full ; yet in the end the good outweighed the bad. 

1 The following story will illustrate how insatiate was the desire of Italians 
of this age for fame — at whatever cost. In 1414, the tyrant of the Italian city 
of Lodi had as his guests both the Emperor (Sigismund) and the Pope (John 
XXIII). He took his guests upon a high tower to show them the view of 
the city. While there a desire seized him to hurl them both thence, and so 
render his own name immortal as the destroyer of both Pope and Emperor! 
He resisted the temptation. His guests retired unharmed; but in after years 
the tyrant lamented his scruples and his lost opportunity. 




CERVANTES 

Spanish novelist 

Born 1 547 Died 1616 



DANTE ALIGHIERI 

Italian poet 

Born 1265 Died 1321 




JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 

German author English poet and dramatist 

Born 1749 Died 1832 Born 1564 Died 1616 

GREAT WRITERS 



THE RENAISSANCE 211 

After the reaction from the old austere views had spent itself 
would come the acceptance by the world of a more normal, 
just type of morality than that of either the Middle Ages or 
the Renaissance. 

Typical of the Renaissance spirit, with its frivolity and its 
savagery, its elegance and its brutality, is the rise of the 
" Condottieri," or roving military leaders. These men were 
sometimes bold adventurers, who sold themselves from state 
to state as generals in the constant petty wars. Sometimes, 
however, they were themselves princes, such as the Marquis of 
Mantua, and, most famous of all, Caesar Borgia, son of Pope 
Alexander VI. * This splendid warrior had a short and glorious 
career in which he all but succeeded in conquering for himself 
a principality, made up of several of the small dukedoms of 
Central Italy. Only the death of the Pope and a sudden illness 
of his own lost to him at the last moment the hard-earned 
results of a life spent in aggression and merciless warfare. 

116. The new art. Along with the " new learning " and new 
attitude toward life and the world went a new manner of art. 
Here again the old Graeco-Roman monuments furnished the 
model. The " Gothic " style of architecture of the Middle 
Ages was replaced by the " Renaissance " type, a use of elab- 
orate Corinthian columns, with arches and mighty domes of 
the classic style, whereof a notable example is the rebuilt 
Church of St. Peter at Rome (sixteenth century). The med- 
iaeval sculpture was now made natural and beautiful by 
such sculptors as Donatello (1386-1466), a worthy successor 
to the old masters of Greece. But painting especially was 
brought to a perfection which probably went beyond even the 
best of the ancient world. From Cimabue (d. about 1302) to 
Raphael (d. 1520) and Michael Angelo 2 (d. 1564), we have an 

1 See p. 202. 

2 Michael Angelo was more than a great painter. He was at once a master 
architect, sculptor, artist, and poet. The Renaissance produced numbers of 
men gifted with a wonderfully many-sided genius. 



212 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



ascending series of Italian painters (especially from Florence), 
who have given us what are usually counted supreme examples 
in one of the noblest of all the arts. 

117. The new inventions. The Renaissance saw also the 
coming of the great inventions which were to help remould 
civilization. The effects on history of gunpowder are described 
elsewhere. 1 The mariner's compass, introduced, at first, in a 
very crude form, possibly from the Chinese and more directly 
through the Arabs, was also coming into use during this period. 2 

No longer need the naviga- 
tor hug the shore. He could 
boldly launch out into the 
deep. The discovery of 
America was really made 
possible by this invention. 
Even more vital was the 
invention of printing. Dur- 
ing most of the Middle Ages 
there was so little call for 
books that mere manuscript 
reproduction sufficed well 
enough. The growth of in- 
terest in literature, however, 
created a need for prompter 
and cheaper methods of 
copying, and the need pre- 
sently brought its own so- 
lution. First the manufacture of linen paper (in place of 
costly parchment) was introduced from the Mohammedan 
Orient; then came various crude attempts to make printed 
pages of books by engraved blocks of wood. The glory 

1 See p. 224. 

2 At first the compass was merely a magnetic needle floating on a cork upon 
a pail of water or oil. In Italy the idea developed of hanging it upon a metal 
pivot beneath a glass cover. It now became really available for mariners. 




A PRINTING-PRESS SOON AFTER 
GUTENBERG 



THE RENAISSANCE 213 

of inventing printing, however, belongs not to Italy, but 
to Germany. About 1440, John Gutenberg began at Strass- 
burg to attempt to cast a font of type from metal. Having 
withdrawn to Mainz, about 1456, he issued a Bible — the first 
printed book ever published. The expert Italian manuscript 
copyists sneered at first at the work of the clumsy hand-presses, 
but the value of the " German art " (as it was rightly called) 
was almost instantly recognized. By 1500, there were printing- 
presses in every Christian country of Europe, and between 
1460 and 1525 one after another of the great authors of anti- 
quity were finding their way into print, and becoming avail- 
able for even very humble scholars. 1 Every modern writing 
of worth was, of course, printed. The importance of Guten- 
berg's invention proved, therefore, incalculable; " and, from 
the day of the discovery of printing, humanity has made more 
progress in four hundred and fifty years, than it had made in 
the three thousand or four thousand years preceding. Printing 
has been and is still the indispensable instrument of all progress 
and all liberty." 2 

118. The Northern Renaissance. At first this great intel- 
lectual and artistic movement was confined largely to Italy, 
but by 1500, swarms of Northern scholars, French, English, 
and German, were finding their way to the bright land beyond 
the Alps and returning home with ideas which were destined 
to revolutionize the life and thought of their nations. Paris, 
Oxford, and the German universities became seats of Greek 
learning. The art of Italy inspired such German painters as 
Durer (d. 1528) and Holbein (d. 1543). As a rule the Northern 
apostles of the new learning were more moderate and contained 
than the Italians. There was less indiscriminate admiration of 
antiquity: greater regard for the old moralities. The most 

1 It has been well pointed out that in 1500 one could buy, for the equivalent 
of fifty cents, a printed book whereof the manuscript in 1450 would have cost 
over fifty dollars. 

2 Malet. 



2i 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

famous figure in the Northern Renaissance was Erasmus, of 
Rotterdam, in Holland (d. 1536), a scholar of remarkable 
acuteness and learning, who devoted so much of his energies to 
a shrewd criticism of the abuses in the Church that he was 
considered a forerunner of Luther, although, when Luther's 
revolt actually did break out, he declined to join the religious 
radicals. 

By 1517, to sum up, a new spirit had possessed itself of the 
minds and the attitude toward life of thinking men throughout 
Europe. In that year the new spirit displayed itself in reference 
to the Church. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Bologna; Salerno; Paris; Thomas Aquinas; Scholastic 
Learning; Divine Comedy; Petrarch; Decameron; "Virtue," Chry- 
soloras; Gothic Architecture; Renaissance Architecture; John Guten- 
berg; Erasmus. 

2. The nature of the early university. 

3. What is meant by "Schoolman"? 

4. Did the "scholastic" learning help in the progress of civilization? 

5. Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy? 

6. Is economic prosperity always accompanied by an increase in general 
culture? 

7. What did Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio contribute toward the 
"Revival of Learning" ? 

8. Why was a knowledge of Latin literature less valuable, from the point 
of view of the Renaissance, than a knowledge of Greek literature ? 

9. What effect did the capture of Constantinople in 1453 have upon the 
spread of a knowledge of Greek? 

10. How did the revival of the classical learning affect the manner of 
learning? 

11. How did it affect art? 

1 2. Why were the new inventions of the period important? 

13. Would gunpowder and printing play an important part in the history 
of the New World? Why? 

14. How was the spirit of the Renaissance carried northward? 

15. What was the difference between the Italian and the Northern 
Renaissance? 

16. The influence of Erasmus. 



THE RENAISSANCE 215 

EXERCISES 

1. The earlier universities — when, where, and how did they originate? 

2. The "trivium" and "quadrivium." 

3. Famous "Schoolmen." 

4. Scholasticism. 

5. The scientific knowledge of the Middle Ages. 

6. Dante as a scientist. 

7. What was the attitude of Petrarch toward Aristotle? 

8. The meaning of "humanism." 

9. Typical Italian Despots, especially Ferrante of Naples, Ludovico il 
Moro (Sforza), Lorenzo de Medici, and Sigismondo Malatesta of 
Rimini. 

10. Savonarola. 

1 1 . What is meant by the revival of the " classic influence " in Italian art? 
By studying pictures, tell how the general treatment, and techniques 
of Giotto and Raphael differ; and the sculpture of Donatello and 
Michael Angelo. 

12. Early books and printing. 

13. The Renaissance in northern and western Europe. 

14. The careers of Erasmus, Dtirer, and Holbein the Younger. 

READINGS 

Sources. Ogg: chapters xxi, xxvi. Robinson: nos. 182-96, 217-30, 231a- 

31&. 
Modern accounts. Emerton: chapter xiii. Bemont and Monod: pp. 515- 

27. Seignobos: pp. 125-32, 225-28, 235-38, 268-82. Symonds: passim. 

Pattison: pp. 165-89. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE WORLD AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES 

119. The state of France. By the year 1500, the map of 
Europe had begun to assume a shape which would seem familiar 
even at the present day. Certain countries were still backward 
and divided by the discredited relics of feudalism, but others 
had become powerful centralized " nation-states." The most 
notable of these was France. 1 From the wreck and ruin of the 
Hundred Years' War she had recovered with that alacrity 
which is a French characteristic. Under a very remarkable 
king, Louis XI (1461-83), a person of vulpine and mysterious 
character, but of really statesmanlike ability, she had con- 
tinued to consolidate her government and increase her general 
prosperity. Louis, in particular, had outmaneuvered and com- 
passed the ruin of the great Charles the Bold (Duke of Bur- 
gundy and Prince of the Low Countries — modern Belgium 
and Holland), an ambitious prince, who had become an inde- 
pendent king in all but name, and who had come very near to 
establishing a " third monarchy " between France and Ger- 
many. 2 Charles's death left France the richest, best- governed, 
and most united power in Europe. No one could question the 
valor of the French nobility whose swords were at their king's 
disposal; but even more valuable were the constant revenues 
poured into his coffers by the millions of industrious artisans, 
peasants, and traders. If France did not at once assume the 

1 What had happened, in effect, was that the king had become incomparably 
the greatest of the feudal lords, and now, between his "feudal" powers and his 
"royal " powers, his authority was irresistible. 

2 How Louis XI played the fox against his opponent's lion, undermined 
Charles's power by intrigues, and finally embroiled him in a disastrous war with 
the hardy Swiss mountaineers is admirably told in Scott's two novels, Quentin 
Durward and Anne of Geier stein. 



THE WORLD AT END OF MIDDLE AGES 217 

leadership in Europe which belonged to her by her national 
genius and by her wealth, it was because of the inferior caliber 
of the next two generations of her rulers. Charles VIII (1483- 
98) and Louis XII (1498-15 15) were mediocre, over-ambitious 
kings, who wasted their subjects' blood and treasure in profit- 
less efforts, to conquer Italy — wars which finally ended by 
delivering that unhappy peninsula over to the despotic power 
of Spain. Francis I (1515-47), though equally inclined to 
wasteful wars in Italy, was a great art-patron and probably 
the chief agent in introducing into France the beauties and 
ideals of the Italian Renaissance. The famous castle at Blois 
was built as a palace for him. 

120. The " German" Empire. France had thus achieved 
a real nationality. Much less happy was her great neighbor 
Germany. The failure of her elective sovereigns to conquer 
Italy in the thirteenth century left her little better than an 
ill-compacted federation of feudal princes and " free cities," 
under a ruler who, indeed, still called himself " Caesar 
Augustus " and " Holy Roman Emperor," but really possessed 
only the rights of a president of a league rather than of a true 
monarch of a nation. " Imperial power " in Italy had long 
since sunk to a name; while within Germany its extent was 
usually measured by the personal influence of the Emperor, — 
who, to be sure, often as hereditary prince of a considerable 
dominion, might be a decidedly formidable personage. 

Some of these somewhat inglorious Emperors were really 
important figures in history. Rudolf of Hapsburg (1273-91) 
started his career as merely a petty prince with dominions in 
modern Switzerland, 1 and ended by transmitting to his sons 
the hereditary rights to the valuable " Austrian lands " — the 
territories around Vienna, the nucleus of the present-day 

1 One of the reasons why Rudolf was elected was because he seemed too insig- 
nificant to curb his fellow princes. From the " Hapsburg" line which he founded 
are descended the present Emperor of Austria and the King of Spain. It is one 
of the most famous dynasties in history. 



218 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



Austrian Empire. Another Emperor, Charles IV, a practical, 
conservative ruler, issued, in 1356, the " Golden Bull " — a 
kind of constitution for the German Empire, especially regu- 
lating the method of electing the Emperor, and so diminishing 
the chances of civil war. 1 In 1500, the reigning Emperor was 



1 ' ■ . .^ .^ \ ... . ' ■ ' ' .". ~~~ — ».".'!...'"■•!-'. .'■.--.- ~. .-,,.1, '_"! — ' — rrz 









Itf'.rf - 



:- 1 , 



. < =*^A . . . 



THE EMPEROR CHARLES IV DINING IN STATE 
Served by the Elector Palatine. (Frow a manuscript copy of the 
Golden Bull, in the Library of Vienna) 

Maximilian, a chivalrous monarch of the Hapsburg line, who 
has been well called " the last of the knights," both from his 
valorous, visionary character, and the ludicrous difference 
between his soaring schemes for " conquering the world " and 
their repeated and absurd failures. As ruler of the ample 
" Austrian lands," he was, nevertheless, a powerful sovereign, 
but in the rest of Germany he was treated with more lip service 
than obedience. 

The real government of Germany was vested in the very 

1 The Electors who alone could choose the Emperors — the greatest princes, 
therefore, of the Empire — were: — 

A. (Spiritual Electors) — B. (Temporal Electors) — 

(1) Archbishop of Mainz. (4) Duke of Saxony. 

(2) Archbishop of Treves. (5) King of Bohemia. 

(3) Archbishop of Cologne. (6) Count Palatine of the Rhine. 

(7) Markgraf of Brandenburg. 
From 1440 down to Napoleon's time only once, however, was an Emperor 
chosen who did not belong to the Hapsburg dynasty, which thus came to con- 
sider the election as almost its prescriptive right. 



THE WORLD AT END OF MIDDLE AGES 219 

numerous " electors," " dukes," " markgrafs," " counts of the 
Empire," and " free cities." Practically speaking, these 
powers were semi-independent, waging war and making treaties 
and local laws in true feudal style. The largest of these princi- 
palities (e.g., Saxony) were really small kingdoms; the smallest, 
the " Ritters " (knights') holdings, were mere patches of 
ground with a small castle and a few starving peasants. A 
match for any save the mightiest princes were the larger free 
cities like great Nuremberg in the South and lordly Liibeck on 
the Baltic, 1 — magnificently built cities, full of industry and 
commerce; rivals of the Italian city-states in their elegance, 
and in the refined homes of their merchant princes; and gov- 
erned by city aristocracies whose enterprise and wealth often 
put them far ahead of the old landed nobility. 

From time to time an Imperial Diet met — a gathering of the 
multitude of princes or their envoys and of the deputies of the 
free cities. The Emperor presided; there was enormous pomp, 
ceremony, feasting, and hard drinking. But the Diet was 
a most ineffective organ. The discordant elements united on a 
common decree only with ponderous slowness. Such a decree, 
once promulgated, was almost non-enforcible. Frequently a 
state would refuse to enforce an unwelcome decree, and in that 
case the only remedy was to declare war upon the offender. 
Common taxation for the whole " Empire " was often al- 
most impossible. " Private wars " were frequent. u Robber 
knights " " let their horses bite off traveler's purses." 2 There 
were thus many tokens of public anarchy. Yet this is only 
one side of the picture. Many of the principalities were well 
governed. A great spirit of enterprise and a ready acceptance 

1 Liibeck was the presiding city of the great Hanseatic League of cities of 
North Germany, especially those along the North Sea and Baltic, — a confed- 
eracy which for a long time controlled the trade in those parts and fought on 
equal terms with the Kings of Denmark and of Sweden. 

2 A rhyme current among lawless peasants ran : — 

"To ride and to rob is no shame! 
The best in the land do the same!" 



THE WORLD AT END OF MIDDLE AGES 221 

of new ideas had permeated the bulk of the population. There 
was a great zeal to develop schools, and to found universities 
in all the important states. Also Germans were very proud of 
the " Fatherland " and jealous of foreigners. The longing for 
a united, firm government which should give prosperity at 
home and glory abroad was very great. There was also a 
strong current of feeling that all was not well with the Church, 
and that here, too, must come a radical reformation. 

121. The coming of Spain. By 1500 a new Christian power 
had begun to interfere in the affairs of Europe — the united 




A SPANISH CAMP 
Note the mediaeval tents. (From a late thirteenth-century manuscript 
in the Escurial Library, Madrid) 



monarchy of Spain. Very slowly in their northern mountains 
had the Spanish Christians rallied after the Moslems had over- 
whelmed their land (eighth century). Foot by foot, mile by 
mile, all through the age of the Carolingians and the German 
Ottos and Hohenstaufen, the Christians had won back, first 
the center, then the richer southern part of their peninsula. 
Frenchmen had gone only occasionally on crusades. To the 
Spaniard, life was one continuous crusade against the ever- 
present infidel. The story of these " holy " wars and of the 
rise of new Christian kingdoms is very confusing. By about 



222 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

1250, nearly all the land had been recovered, save where, in 
the far south, in the small but fertile and populous kingdom 
and city of Granada, 1 the Moors had made a last stand, and 
the Christians were for many years too hampered by their 
own feuds to expel them. 

The growth of the Christian powers in Spain had been 
spasmodic, and sorely retarded by more than the usual number 
of feudal wars and dynastic contests. On the northeast had 
developed the kingdom of Aragon; in the center, the greatest 
of these kingdoms, Castile ; on the west, small but full of mari- 
time enterprise, Portugal. 2 Days of internal peace and of 
foreign power dawned when, in 1469, Ferdinand, the heir to 
Aragon, wedded Isabella the Catholic, the high-minded Queen 
of Castile. Immediately the royal power in the united mon- 
archy took a notable bound forward. The first fruits came in 
1492, when the last Moorish king sadly surrendered Granada 
and the country was clear of the infidel. That same year the 
Italian Columbus, with Spanish ships and Spanish patronage, 
landed in the New World, and the great story of the Spanish 
Empire in America was begun. 

In 1500, Spain was a comparatively new country; her people, 
brave, ingenious, and ambitious, but full of pride and haughti- 
ness, and just released from the familiar task of war with the 
Moslem, were ready for any kind of high enterprise. They were 
intensely devoted to the Catholic Church, and ready to fly to 
the defense of their religion at the first summons. Their kings 
shared their religious zeal and their ambitions. 3 For a hundred 

1 At that city, of course, is the famous Alhambra, the marvelously beautiful 
Moorish palace described by Washington Irving. In most of the arts of peace, 
the Moors of Granada surpassed the Spaniards who conquered them. 

2 In the mountain district between France and Spain there lay also the very 
small kingdom of Navarre, which was presently absorbed between the two 
countries; Spain getting Navarre proper; France, Beam, the district north of the 
Pyrenees. 

3 It is worth noticing that the perpetual warfare with the Moslem, extending 
as it did over nearly eight hundred years, had almost unfitted the Spanish 



THE WORLD AT END OF MIDDLE AGES 223 

years Spanish valor and American gold made those kings al- 
most the first monarchs in Christendom. 

122. The coming of the Turks. In the East a new power was 
also rising, a far more sinister one than Spain : — the Moham- 
medan Turks were now in Europe. 

After the Fourth Crusade the Greeks had, indeed, recovered 
Constantinople (1261), but the power of these successors of 
the old East Romans had been exhausted. Various races like 
the Serbs pressed them hard in the Balkan Peninsula. In 
Asia Minor, the tribe of Ottoman Turks took the offensive; 
tore away the last Christian cities there; then forced their way 
into Thrace. In 136 1, the great city of Adrianople fell into 
their hands, and from this capital they reached out and con- 
quered the neighboring Serbs and Bulgarians. Constantinople, 
itself, thanks to its admirable site and fortifications, still defied 
them; but long ere the final catastrophe, the " Greek Emperor " 
had been stripped of nearly all his dominions outside the very 
suburbs of his capital. 1 

At last, in 1453, the hour of doom came. Mohammed II 
blockaded the old city of the Caesars by land and sea with all 
his hordes of Orientals. The last Emperor, Constantine XII 
(Palaeologus), a hero worthy of his great name, made a desper- 
ate defense, but his case was hopeless. His city was cut off from 
the rest of Europe. His appeals for help to the Western Powers 
were met only by a few reinforcements from Genoa and 
Venice. The newly invented siege-guns used by the Turks 
beat down the old towers and battlements which had defied 
the enemies of " New Rome " so long. On May 29, 1453, 
Constantine died fighting in the breach of the city he could not 
save, and the Turks sacked Constantinople with true Eastern 
fury and cruelty. Mohammed II rode in triumph to the 

peoples for most peaceful activities. They had developed very little industrial 
ability. They were almost a race of professional soldiers. 

1 He retained some districts in southern Greece, down to the actual taking of 
Constantinople. 



224 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

famous Church of St. Sophia, where the Moslem crier sum- 
moned the faithful to worship " the One Allah and his Pro- 
phet." A great chapter of history had been ended, and the ever 
troublous " Eastern Question " had been begun for Europe. 

The fall of Constantinople was followed by the more com- 
plete subjugation of Servia, Bulgaria, and Greece proper by 
the Turks, and the partial conquest of Hungary. In 1529, 
the great Sultan, Soliman the Magnificent, was barely repulsed 
before the German imperial capital of Vienna. For the next 
century and a half the " Cross " and the " Crescent " continued 
their doubtful battle in Eastern Europe, and only slowly did 
the scales begin to incline toward the Christians. 

It is fair to say that this intrusion of the Turks into Europe 
was an unmitigated curse. They were a race of rude soldiers 
with only a veneer of even Oriental civilization. They brought 
with them an alien religion and a government that was an 
absolute despotism. 1 Their coming involved war, misery for 
innocent non-combatants, and the ruin of commerce and 
peaceful industry. In fine, this very real " Turkish peril " 
forms the dark background to the story of Christendom down 
to at least the year 1700. 

123. The military revolution caused by gunpowder. During 
this age a new military factor was working wide political 
results. Gunpowder was more than an improved agent for 
murdering men. It was a prime factor in destroying the relics 
of feudalism. As early as 1300, clumsy " bombards," to hurl 
stone balls propelled by the mysterious black dust, had been 
used to batter down fortresses. From 1400 onward, " hand- 
guns " and " arquebuses " began to compete with the old 
longbows and crossbows in open battles. Clumsy as these 
weapons were, their presence was speedily felt in warfare. 

1 What made the Turkish regime more obnoxious was the fact that for three 
hundred years their best army corps, the Janizaries, was recruited by a tax 
levied on the Christian subjects — a tax payable in young boys who were torn 



THE WORLD AT END OF MIDDLE AGES 225 

(a) Even a very feeble battering-train could demolish a 
feudal castle. It was impossible any longer for a baron with 
a few followers to " drop his portcullis and defy the king ": 
his walls would soon be tumbling down about his ears. Every 
new cannon was an argument for royal as against feudal 
power. 

(b) The musket (" arquebus"), although at first absurdly 
slow-firing and unwieldy, very soon had the most heavily 
armored knight at its mercy. Any clod-ploughing peasant 
could discharge the bullet which might annihilate the great 
seigneur. The day of the cavalier in " armor of proof" van- 
ished forever; — another gain for democracy. 1 

124. The expansion of the world by foreign discoveries. 
During the Middle Ages the human horizon had been fearfully 
contracted. The broad Atlantic had stretched away as a " Sea 
of Darkness/' inhabited if at all by terrible monsters. From 
the Orient had come wild, vague tales of India and of Zipango 
(Japan) and Cathay (China). Now the scope of geographical 
knowledge was widening with extraordinary rapidity; and 
with this geographical knowledge went a general spirit of 
receptivity to new ideas. As early as 1295, Marco Polo, a bold 
Venetian, had returned to his native city with great tales of his 
residence in Tartary and China at the court of the " Grand 
Khan " ; but it took two centuries for Europe and the Far 

from their parents, then taught Mohammedanism, and trained to be devoted 
fighters for the Sultan. 

1 Of course the English longbow had already done much in this direction 
(see p. 169); but to become a good bowman required a very special training, 
while infinitely less training was needed to manage an arquebus. So great, how- 
ever, was the skill of the English archers that in England the bow was retained 
as a serious fighting weapon long after the coming of gunpowder. 

One of the early uses of gunpowder was to scare the enemy's horses! This was 
especially the case, according to one account, at the battle of Crecy. 

There is a droll story of how several of the petty German princes clubbed 
together to purchase one cannon, which they passed around among themselves, 
to beat down the castles of the defiant robber knights in their respective 
dominions. 



226 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



Orient to enter really into direct contact. All through the 
fifteenth century hardy Portuguese navigators had been feeling 
their way ever farther down the west coast of Africa. Almost 
simultaneously now came the discovery of the New World and 
of the road to the Far East. In 1492, Columbus (a Genoese 
navigator, but with Spanish ships) landed in the West Indies, 
seeking " golden Zipango " and discovering a new continent 
by accident. In 1498, the Portuguese Vasco da Gama swept 
into the Indian harbor of Calicut, soon to sail back with a cargo 




THE FLEET OF THE GRAND KHAN 



of spices, jewels, and muslins, and with the report of a better 
route to the golden East. In 1520, Magellan was to round the 
southern cape of Patagonia; and his ship returned to Spain 
with the first story of the circumnavigation of the globe 
(1522). 1 Deeds like these were enough to herald a new age. 
125. General unrest of the times. The Italian Renaissance 

1 Magellan himself (a Portuguese, but in Spanish service) perished in the 
Philippine Islands, after successfully conducting a marvelous voyage across the 
broad Pacific. As a mere achievement of daring, his expedition far exceeded that 
of Columbus. (See John Fiske's Discovery of America, vol. ir, pp. 191 ff., for an 
excellent account.) 



THE WORLD AT END OF MIDDLE AGES 227 

had wrought a great change in man's whole attitude toward 
the world and life within it. The new inventions l and the new 
geographical discoveries were unsettling old beliefs, and mak- 
ing even very conservative persons open to all manner of new 
ideas. In place of feudal kingdoms there were appearing — at 
least, in France, England, and Spain — solidly compacted 
monarchies. The rapid development of commerce and indus- 
try, and the premium now put upon wealth and not birth, 
were destroying the prestige and influence of the old-time 
nobilities. Serfdom had disappeared in many Christian lands, 
and seemed dwindling in most of the others. In short, by 1500 
nearly every time-honored human idea and institution had 
been essentially modified save only the Catholic Church. 
Could that alone go through the changes of the age un- 
scathed? The answer came from Germany in 15 17. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Louis XI; Rudolph of Hapsburg; the Golden Bull; Electors; 
Ritter; Diet; Hanseatic League; Alhambra; Ottoman Turks; St. 
Sophia; Soliman the Magnificent; Janizaries; Marco Polo. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Mainz; Treves; Cologne; Nuremberg; Liibeck; Granada; 
Aragon; Castile; Portugal; Navarre; Adrianople; Constantinople. 

(b) Mark the bounds of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Turkey 
in Europe about 1500. 

3. The work of Louis XL 

4. What were the reasons for the failure of Germany to achieve "a real 
nationality"? 

5. What did Rudolph of Hapsburg and Charles IV contribute to the devel- 
opment of the Empire? 

6. What was the origin of Austria? 

7. What made possible the wealth and refinement of such cities as Venice, 
Liibeck, and Antwerp? 

8. What conditions favorable for the development of a "nation-state" 
existed in Germany about 1 500? 

9. Why had not Spain taken a prominent part in European affairs before 
1500? 

1 See p. 212. 



228 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

10. What conditions among the Mohammedans aided the Christians to 
recover Spain? 

ii. What was accomplished by Ferdinand and Isabella in the develop- 
ment of Spain? 

12. What prevented an earlier conquest in Europe by the Ottoman Turks? 

13. Mohammed II is known as "the Conqueror." Why? 

14. The effects upon the Balkan Peninsula of the conquests by the Turks. 
Compare with the effects upon the Spanish Peninsula of the con- 
quest by the Saracens. 

15. How did gunpowder help the growth of democracy? 

16. What had been accomplished in discovery by 1525? 

17. How would the discoveries affect European civilization? 

EXERCISES 

1. Louis XI and Charles the Bold. 

2. The Italian Wars. 

3. The Golden Bull of Charles IV. 

4. The Hanseatic League (Hansa). 

5. The Christian Reconquest of Spain. 

6. The Alhambra. 

7. How did the expulsion of the Moors affect the economic conditions 
in Spain? 

8. Columbus at the Court of Spain. 

9. The government of Spain about 1 500. 

10. Cardinal Ximenes and the Church in Spain. 

11. Why did not Christian Europe unite to repel the Turks? 

12. Constantine XII (Palaeologus). 

13. Compare the sack of Constantinople by the Christians (1204) with 
that by the Turks. 

14. The invention and early uses of gunpowder. 

15. Geographical knowledge before 1492. 

16. Prince Henry the Navigator and the Portuguese sailors. 

17. The ships of the period. 

READINGS 

Sources. Ogg: chapter xxiv, section 72. Robinson: nos. 203-04, 231, 232, 
233-38. 

Modern Accounts. Bemont and Monod: pp. 474-79. Duruy: pp. 247-313. 
319-24. Lewis: pp. 235-353. Seignobos: pp. 187-91, 211-62. Gibbin: 
pp. 105-09. Pattison: pp. 144-64, 190-214. Lodge: chapter I. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE PROTESTANT REVOLT IN GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND 

126. The state of the Church in the sixteenth century. In 

15 1 7, even devout friends of the Catholic Church admitted 
that the great fabric was full of evils. The reigning Pope 
Leo X was an upright, well-intentioned ruler personally, but 
he was far more intent on strengthening his political position 
as an Italian prince, and playing the patron to poets and 
artists, 1 than in cleansing the Church of its obvious abuses. 
There were many worthy bishops, but as a rule to be a bishop 
meant to be a great nobleman who entered the Church as a 
" career" with a view to the financial, political, and social 
advantages. The friar movement of St. Francis and St. 
Dominic had lost much of its noble impulse. The friars were 
now charged with averaging more idle, more greedy, more 
morally worthless than the ordinary monks. The regular 
priests also were often charged with gross ignorance, with 
neglecting their parishes, and with leading unworthy lives to 
the detriment of their credulous laity. As for the Papal Court 
at Rome, all sorts of worldliness, financial greediness, extreme 
luxury, and downright immorality were constantly imputed 
even to the highest cardinals. No doubt there was much 
exaggeration in these charges: it was easy for one rascally 
churchman to destroy the effect of the good deeds of a dozen 
pious men; — nevertheless, many ugly facts appeared to 
remain. The world was advancing, but in the great Church 
evils seemed every day more prominent. 2 

1 Among his favorites at court were Raphael and Michael Angelo. 
t 2 Catholic scholars of the present day admit all these facts, but declare that 
the remedy was one calling for the peaceful internal reform of the Church : not 



230 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Yet this Church was still acknowledged throughout all 
Western Christendom: all attempts to alter its body of doc- 
trines and scheme of government had failed. Men might 
deplore " the worldliness of Rome," yet still profess firm loy- 
alty to priest, bishop, and Papacy. There were no more out- 
ward signs of a great religious revolt in 1516 than in 1416. 1 
Then suddenly forces, long at work silently, manifested them- 
selves. In a surprisingly short time Western Christendom was 
split into two hostile camps, not even at this present day 
united. All great movements, however, usually revolve around 
a leader; — the Protestant Revolt or Reformation revolves 
around the person of the German friar, Martin Luther. 

127. The early career of Martin Luther. It is safe to say 
that there would have been a marked religious change in any 
event. It is also safe to say that Martin Luther gave his own 
personal stamp and impetus to the new movement. The main 
facts of his life are fundamentals in the world's history. He 
was born a Saxon peasant in 1483 ; and worked his way through 
the schools at Eisenach and through the University of Erfurt 
by self-denial and begging. 2 His friends expected him to be- 
come a lawyer; but in 1505, being in great fear for the salvation 
of his soul, he amazed them by becoming a friar. In the con- 
vent he practiced every monkish mortification, but only found 
peace for his soul upon being convinced that merely the " free 
grace of God," not any personal self-righteousness, could 
bring salvation to the penitent sinner. He became Professor 
of Theology in the Saxon University of Wittenberg; and was 
soon famous as a theological lecturer and as a preacher of 

a violent revolution in which the whole fabric of the Church, not simply the 
abuses, was demolished. 

1 Nor so many signs, perhaps: the memory of the heretic John Hus (see p. 199) 
would, in 1416, still have been keen. 

2 Luther's father had prospered enough to be of some assistance to him when 
he went to the university. — Attempts to explain the Protestant Reformation 
as a merely social and economic movement, and to ignore Luther, are very 
futile. 





MARTIN LUTHER 

Leader of German Reformation 

Born 1483 Died 1546 



DESIDERUS ERASMUS 

Dutch scholar 

Born 1466C?) Died 1536 





IGNATIUS DE LOYOLA 

Spanish founder of Society of Jesus 

Born 1491 Died 1556 



CHARLES WESLEY 

English Methodist preacher 

Born 1707 Died 1788 



LEADERS OF BELIEF 



THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 231 

divine grace and righteousness to the laity. He was praised for 
his eloquence, learning, and piety. In normal times he might 
have become a bishop. Then, in 151 7, he did a deed which 
made all Europe talk of him. 

128. Tetzel, and Luthefs Theses (1517). To raise money for 
building the new Cathedral of St. Peter, at Rome, the church 
authorities had commissioned one John Tetzel, a friar, to 
preach and sell valuable indulgences through North Germany. 1 
These remissions from the penances due for sin were only 
valid when not merely a price had been paid, but also when 
the purchaser had professed real sorrow for his evil actions; 
however, there is little doubt that Tetzel exceeded his com- 
mission. 2 The indulgences were sold for a round price, and 
Tetzel was anxious to report as large sales as possible. In his 
noisy sermons through the German cities he seems to have 
said much of the money, little of the contrition. 3 Untaught 
peasants, at least, gained the belief that the purchase of an 
indulgence squared all accounts with Heaven, and left one 
shriven and sinless. When Tetzel preached and sold in Juter- 
bog, a town near Wittenberg, the accounts of his doings which 
came thence aroused Luther to drastic action. 

On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed to the door of the 

1 The indulgences were not (as Protestants often believe) "forgivenesses of 
sins"; they were only the remission of the penances — fasts, alms deeds, pil- 
grimages, etc. — which the priest could require of one who professed sorrow for 
his misdeeds and asked for absolution. At the same time, many Catholic scholars 
admit that the theory was one open to abuses if not carefully safeguarded, and 
that Tetzel was a very unworthy, rapacious man. 

2 What made the case more objectionable was that the Archbishop of Mainz 
(who had sent out Tetzel) was heavily in debt to the Fuggers — a great banking- 
house of Augsburg. A clerk of the Fuggers accompanied Tetzel, and appropri- 
ated a large share of the indulgence money to pay his employers — a highly 
"secular" proceeding! 

3 Most dubious of all were his urgings that people buy indulgences for their 
relatives then in the fires of purgatory. 

"The money in the strong box rings — 
The ransomed soul to heaven upsprings!" — 
is the scandalous rhyme imputed to him. 



2 3 2 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

"Castle Church," 1 in Wittenberg, ninety-five " theses," or 
statements relative to indulgences, in which he attacked the 
methods of Tetzel, and by implication cast doubts upon the 
whole value of the documents. Luther had no intention (he 
later said) of questioning any of the great doctrines of the 
Church or the authority of the Pope. But it was soon plain 
that he had stirred up a hornet's nest. The " Theses " were 
printed and distributed over all Germany. Instantly he was 
both praised and blamed with extreme violence: praised for 
daring to attack a greedy monk who was deluding the laity, 
blamed for assailing by insinuation the fundamental power and 
prerogatives of the Pope (whose license Tetzel bore). Tetzel 
himself and his friends retaliated with venomous counter- 
theses. All intelligent Germany began to take sides. 

129. The hearing before Cajetanus (15 18). At first Pope 
Leo regarded the trouble as an unimportant " monks' quarrel." 
But it was soon evident that something must be done " to 
quench the flames." It was not enough to repudiate Tetzel. 2 
Luther (and the learned friends who had rallied around him), in 
trying to justify their first attack on the indulgence-hawker, 
were using new arguments which seemed to involve the under- 
lying doctrines of the Church. In 1518, Luther was cited before 
the papal legate, the Cardinal Cajetanus, at Augsburg. The 
cardinal was a kindly and blameless man, anxious to see good 
in Luther, but he firmly pressed for a " recantation." Luther 
tried to justify the points at issue with arguments. This was 
not what Cajetanus wanted: the bold friar must submit with- 
out argument to the declared teachings of the Church. Really 

1 This was the regular bulletin board for the notices at the University of 
Wittenberg. Luther did not advance his theses as proved facts, but only as 
theories relative to indulgences which he was ready to defend with arguments 
(a common academic procedure), but the discussion soon ranged far beyond 
ordinary university controversy. 

2 Tetzel was later so severely reprimanded for his coarse folly by Miltitz, the 
Pope's commissioner to Germany, that he retired to a convent in disgrace, and 
is said to have died soon after of mortification. 



THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 233 

the two men (both sincere and honest) stood on such different 
grounds that reconciliation was almost impossible. Cajetanus 
was defending the claim of the Church, first, to define the true 
belief, and then to require all Christians to accept it. Luther 
was claiming the right of every man to evolve his own personal 
theology without necessarily accepting the dicta of the Church. 1 
This difference was fundamental, and remains fundamental to 
this day. 

" Recant! " at length ordered Cajetanus, " or never see my 
face again." 

Luther refused, and left Augsburg. This was the second 
step in the great religious revolt. 

130. The disputation at Leipzig (15 19). The next year, at 
Leipzig, Luther joined with a Catholic champion, Eck, in a 
formal public disputation on their differences. More and more 
Luther had become convinced, as his opponents had pressed 
him, that the papal authority and all the great Church fabric 
connected therewith were hopelessly bad, and needed com- 
plete reconstruction. At Leipzig, he astonished his hearers by 
asserting personal sympathy with the Bohemian Hussites, 2 
long since condemned as heretics by the Church. A like 
boldness of assertion against Church authority had not been 
for centuries. Speedily came rumors of a papal bull of excom- 
munication against Luther, and he in turn became defiant. 
The newly invented printing-press was at his disposal. He had 
developed a wonderfully trenchant literary style both in Latin 
(for the learned) and in the popular German. 3 In two great 

1 It is perfectly true that Luther laid great stress upon the teachings of the 
Bible as against the decrees of the Church: seeming simply to substitute one 
authority for another. But the Bible is by no means a book to be received with- 
out careful study and interpretation; and then comes in the personal element — 
every man must make his own interpretation of the Bible, if he will not let the 
Church do it for him. 

2 See p. 200. 

3 Luther's friends and enemies alike have admitted that a large part of his 
success came from his matchless literary and argumentative gifts. He is justly 
criticized for extreme violence of statement and invective, but no one has denied 



234 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



pamphlets, — " The Appeal to the German Nobility " and 
" On the Babylonish Captivity of the Church," — he denounced 
the alleged abuses of Rome in unmeasured terms. No other 
theological pamphlets ever had such an effect. Public opinion 
rallied to him — " a pious German friar attacked by worldly 




MARTIN LUTHER BURNING THE POPE'S BULL OF EXCOMMUNICATION 



Italians." When the papal bull against him was published 
(1520), a very large fraction of Germany was ready to applaud 
Luther's action, as, upon a great public bonfire at Wittenberg, 
he cast this notice of excommunication, and proclaimed his 
contempt for " Anti-Christ " (the Pope) and all his power. 

131. Luther at Worms and the Wartburg (1521-22). Leo 
now demanded of the newly elected Emperor, Charles V, 
that he arrest and punish the man whom the law of the Church 
had condemned. But a great majority of the Germans seemed 

that his trenchant pen made his arguments carry double weight. He knew his 
countrymen thoroughly, and had a marvelous power of appealing to their hopes, 
fears, prejudices, and patriotism. 



THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 235 

to be on Luther's side. A powerful prince — Frederick the 
Wise of Saxony — was his protector. It was impossible to 
condemn him without a hearing. Although Charles V x (Fleming 
born and of Spanish descent) was a devout Catholic and not 
unwilling to sustain the Pope, he could not override the wishes 
of his German subjects too ruthlessly. Luther was accordingly 
summoned under safe-conduct to the Imperial Diet at Worms. 
Luther's friends told him that he would never be allowed to 
leave Worms alive, but he was determined to bear his witness: 
" I will go to Worms," vowed he, " though there be as many 
devils there as there be tiles on the house-tops! " On April 18, 
1 52 1, the peasant's son, in his humble friar's frock, was led in 
before the august and glittering array of the Emperor, his 
court, and all the German princes. But to the demand that 
he recant his writings, Luther was as stedfast as before Caje- 
tanus. Finally he was pressed for an unequivocal answer 
" without horns." " I cannot recant," was the final reply, 
" unless I be proved in the wrong by Scripture or by plain 
reasoning. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. 
Amen!" 2 

Under the law there was only one fate for obvious heretics. 
Luther was ordered to return to Wittenberg, there to await 
" the ban of the Empire," and, no doubt, a fiery punishment; 
but on his way home he was kidnapped by his friends and con- 
fined secretly as a prisoner of honor in one of the Elector of 
Saxony's castles — the famous Wartburg, in the beautiful 
Thuringian forest. 3 While there he translated the Bible into 

1 Charles V (Emperor, 1519-56) was, besides holding the imperial crown, the 
Prince of the Netherlands (Belgium, Holland), and, as grandson of Ferdinand 
and Isabella, the King of Spain and Spanish x\merica. He was an astute and 
very capable monarch, who fell short by only a little of being one of the world's 
greatest rulers. 

2 There is some question as to the exact verbal form of Luther's answer. The 
words given seem, on the whole, well authenticated. 

3 So completely did he disappear that many of his friends believed him dead, 
and accused the Catholic party of murdering him. 



236 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

German. His version at once ran into many editions, and 
became both a German classic and a great weapon for his 
party. In 1522, Luther ventured to leave the Wartburg and 
return to Wittenberg. To most Germans he was a national 
hero. The Emperor was about to plunge into war with 
France, and dared not alienate the nation by enforcing the 
ban. 

132. The spread of the revolt in Germany. Luther lived 
unmolested in Wittenberg till his death in 1546. He was gen- 
erally counted the mentor and patron of the new movement, 
but he was no longer essential to its progress. In northern 
Germany, between 1522 and 1530, the people seem to have 
revolted against the old Church almost at one bound. Nuns 
and monks left their convents; priests married; 1 communion 
was administered in " both kinds"; 2 Luther's doctrine of 
" salvation by grace " (in lieu of pious works) was generally 
accepted. Many of the princes (e.g., of Saxony and Hesse) 
joined the movement sometimes from sincere zeal, sometimes 
because the "Reformation" meant a pretext for confiscating 
the Church lands. There were, of course, serious setbacks: 
wild sects of fanatics arose — e.g., the Anabaptists, who found 
in the Bible justification of open polygamy; and there occurred 
a great revolt of the peasantry, who, like oppressed wild beasts, 
seized on the public unrest as an occasion for a revolt against 
the tyrannous knights and princes, and who were presently 
put down in blood by the authorities (1524-25). Luther him- 
self, perhaps over-scrupulously, kept on the side of "law and 
order," and taught his followers to submit to the leadership of 
the constituted princes. He had his reward, however. Several 
of the greatest principalities ranged themselves on his side, 
and were ready to defend " the Reformed Religion " by armed 

1 Luther himself married an ex-nun (Catherine von Bora; "my Kathe"), in 
1525- 

2 That is to say, both the bread and the wine were given to the laity, not the 
bread only as in the Catholic Church. 




CHARLES V 

Holy Roman Emperor (1519-56) King of Spain as Charles I (1516-56) 
Born 1500 Died 1558 



THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 



237 




force if need be. In 1529, these Lutheran princes " protested " 

at the Diet of Spires against the decision to carry out the 

Edict of Worms (against Luther and his supporters), and so 

won for themselves and their cause the abiding name of 

" Protestants." In 1530, the new 

Lutheran churches united against 

their foes under a common creed 

and program, " The Confession of 

Augsburg," and in 1531, their 

princes drew together into a close 

military alliance, the Schmalkaldic l 

League. 

Meantime throughout Germany 
every thoughtful man was making 
his choice — the old Church or the 
new. Many who had at first ap- 
plauded Luther drew back, but the 
bulk of the nation, especially in 
North and Central Germany, com- 
mitted themselves to one or another 
type of " Protestantism." 

133. The religious peace of Augsburg (1555). Hardly was 
Luther dead (1546) when the Emperor Charles, who had long 
dissembled his wrath against the German Protestants, owing 
to his embroilments with France, sought to enforce the ban 
against heresy. The forces of the Schmalkaldic League were 
routed, its leading princes imprisoned; Charles made certain 
promises of tolerance for a few Protestant tenets; yet the 
whole movement seemed doomed. But the Lutherans found 
a new champion in the Elector Maurice of Saxony, a former 
supporter of the Emperor, although a Protestant, who now 
fell out with his master, and suddenly (1552) turned his arms 

1 The name comes from the town (Schmalkalden) where the league was or- 
ganized. 



GERMAN PEDDLER OF THE 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
(From a book by Hans Gantz 
{Frankfort, 1568) describing the va- 
rious trades of the period) 



238 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

against him. 1 Charles, who had believed he had Germany at 
his mercy, was obliged to fly, ill with gout, in a litter over the 
snowy Alps from Innsbruck to avoid capture by Maurice. 
The attempt to conquer the Protestants had failed: more 
particularly as they could always look for aid to Charles's 
arch enemy — France. The Emperor in despair concluded a 
preliminary treaty (at Passau), which became a permanent 
peace at Augsburg (1555). 

The compact of Augsburg was a compromise satisfactory to 
neither party, but perhaps as good as could be secured at the 
moment. It was agreed that the Lutherans (adherents of the 
" Confession of Augsburg") should be tolerated in as many 
districts of Germany as were then ruled by Lutheran princes 
(about two thirds of Germany). The religion of the prince thus 
became the religion of the region, — an absurd decision; for 
what if the prince changed his own religion — must his subjects 
change also? 2 What of the districts where a non-Lutheran 
type of Protestantism prevailed, or which became Protestant 
after the treaty? Obviously here was the certain source of later 
conflict. Nevertheless, this rough-and-ready agreement was 
to serve to keep the peace in Germany for over fifty years; and 
at the time of its making many good men were justified in con- 
sidering it only provisional : — would not one religion surely 
absorb the other? For to expect that Christendom would 
remain permanently split into two great opposing camps was 
contrary to all past theory and experience. 

134. Zwingli and Calvin in Switzerland. Luther's great 
strength had been in his ability to appeal to his own German 
countrymen. In non-German lands Lutheranism had much less 

1 Maurice was by no means an ideal character. He had supported Charles 
long enough to win for himself the Electorate of Saxony, formerly held by his 
kinsmen. Of course, he alleged various personal and religious grievances for his 
attack upon the Emperor. 

2 Cases actually arose where, e.g., a Catholic prince was succeeded by a 
Protestant, and all his subjects were required to change their faith or migrate. 
Then a Catholic ruler would come in again and the whole process be reversed. 



THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 239 

success. It wrested the Scandinavian kingdoms from the old 
Church, but in Switzerland and the French borderlands, it 
halted before a rival type of Protestantism which revolved 
around the leaders Zwingli and Calvin. 

Zwingli, a priest in the Swiss city of Ziirich, 1 had begun, as 
early as 15 19, an attack upon Catholic practice and doctrine 
even more violent and far-reaching than that of Luther. He 
differed, too, from Luther in being more of a politician and 
less of a theologian. He was actually slain in battle between 
the Zurichers and the Swiss Catholics in 1531, but notwith- 
standing his overthrow a large part of Switzerland became 
Protestant. 

In 1536 appeared at the city of Geneva, in French Switzer- 
land, the man who next to Luther became the prime leader of 
Protestantism. John Calvin was a Frenchman with the French 
spirit of logical thoroughness. His book, " The Institutes of 
the Christian Religion," was a marvelously effective presenta- 
tion of the extreme Protestant case. For many years Calvin 
practically reigned as the " senior pastor " over the little city- 
republic of Geneva, and made it the center for an anti-Catholic 
movement which gave the tone to the leading Protestant 
churches of France, Holland, and especially Scotland and 
England. 2 Calvin was a stern, unsympathetic leader. His 
capital doctrine of predestination has been in later ages bitterly 
criticized. He used his great influence at Geneva to send to 
the stake Servetus (1553) accused of the " unitarian " heresy. 
But he was able to put a fighting spirit into his followers 
which was to carry his aggressive type of Protestantism into 

1 The Swiss Cantons at that time still retained some nominal connection with 
"the Empire," but they were for all practical purposes independent of Germany. 

2 Most of the leading Protestant denominations of America, except the 
Lutherans, Universalists, and Unitarians, derive their fundamental theology 
from Calvin. Calvin differed from Luther on various theological points — e.g., 
the nature of the Lord's Supper; but the decisive difference was this: — Luther 
tried to retain as much of the old usage as possible, Calvin to reduce it to a 
minimum. 



24 o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

countries which had little sympathy with the Germanism of 
Luther. 

135. The Council of Trent and the Catholic reaction. Mean- 
time the Catholics had rallied. If the Germanic North of 
Europe seemed largely lost, the latinized South was success- 
fully defended. 1 Worthy and capable Popes succeeded the 
worldly ones. The practical abuses whereof the first Protes- 
tants complained were abolished, — there was never another 
Tetzel. Between 1545 and 1563, there met intermittently the 
great Council of Trent, which corrected the usages of church- 
men, defined doubtful dogmas upon which the Church had 
never spoken with authority before, and tightened up the whole 
Catholic line of defense against the Protestant adversary. 2 

Another great helper came to the papal side. St. Ignatius de 
Loyola (a Spanish nobleman) founded (1534) the " Society of 
Jesus," or less officially the " Order of Jesuits ": a special 
religious brotherhood of a new kind whereof the special busi- 
ness should be to aid the Popes in all possible ways against 
every kind of heresy. The Jesuits mingled in politics, and 
exerted a potent influence at royal courts; but especially they 
were interested in founding excellent establishments for the 
education of Catholic laymen. For the next century and after 
they were the right arm of the Papacy. 

So the sixteenth century saw the great Western Church 
hopelessly dissevered. Out of the separation were bound to 
come bloody wars and the rise or ruin of nations. 

1 This line of demarcation was followed down fairly closely: the Catholics 
kept southern Germany and a considerable number of adherents in Holland. 
The Protestants won many districts in French (Latin) Switzerland. The Celtic 
parts of the British Isles divided. Ireland remained, on the whole, Catholic- 
Scotland and Wales became Protestant. 

2 It is sometimes said that in the Middle Ages the Church left a great many 
points of faith very indefinite: this had enabled the Protestants to claim that 
they were "no heretics" in attacking various usages (though not laws) of the 
Church. Now after Trent the Church system became far more precise and rigid. 



THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 241 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Indulgences; Luther's Theses; Cajetanus; Eck; Charles V; 
Frederick the Wise; the Wartburg; Protestants; Confession of Augs- 
burg; Schmalkaldic League; Maurice of Saxony; Religious Peace of 
Augsburg; Zwingli; Servetus; the Society of Jesus. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Eisenach; Erfurt; Wittenberg; Augsburg; Leipzig; 
Spires; Innsbruck; Zurich; Geneva; Trent. 

(b) Mark the territories of Charles V in Europe. 

3. What evils existed in the Church at the beginning of the sixteenth 
century? Did the changes produced by the Renaissance make these 
evils more, or less, apparent? 

4. What was Luther's intention in posting his theses? 

5. What was Luther's position at the hearing before Cajetanus? — at the 
dispute with Eck? — before the Emperor? 

6. Why was not Luther treated as Hus had been? Compare his treatment 
with that of Wiclif. 

7. The progress of the Reformation to 1531. 

8. What were the provisions of the Religious Peace of Augsburg? 

9. If the Council of Basel had been like the Council of Trent, would there 
have been a Protestant Revolt? 

EXERCISES 

1. The influence of the Renaissance upon the movement for reform. 

2. How would the character and aims of the Popes of the Renaissance 
affect the influence of the Papacy. 

3. What was the influence of Erasmus upon Luther? 

4. Luther's pamphlets. 

5. What classes in Germany were reached by Luther's teachings? 

6. Compare Zwingli's teachings with those of Luther. 

7. The Swiss Cantons and the Empire. 

8. Loyola and the formation of the Jesuit order. 

9. The Election of 15 19. 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 239-62, 277-79. 

Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 262-66, 283-95, 296-98, 305-14. Lewis: 

pp. 354-98- Pattison: pp. 215-47. Lodge: chapter iv, sections 1-9, 

14-16; chapter vi, sections 1-9; chapter vn, all. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 

136. Henry VIII (1509-47) — His character and policy. 

Under existing conditions it is likely that Protestantism would 
have taken some root in England in any case, no less than in 
other countries. But England — peculiar in her civilization 
and her political institutions — could hardly fail to be peculiar 
in the features of her religious revolt. In her breach with Rome 
theological questions were sometimes all but obscured by the 
problems of worldly policy as directed by her masterful king. 
Henry VIII stands out prominently as one of the most unusual 
rulers in history. 

" Henry Tudor " in his youth was handsome and dissipated. 
In his later days he became portly and sensual; but with all his 
shortcomings he was never sottish, never contemptible. He 
was almost an " absolute king " in his deeds and policy, but 
he knew how to clothe his tyranny with forms of law, and 
when to stop on a given road ere he lost the good will of the 
bulk of his subjects. He could inspire ministers with almost 
excessive devotion to his cause, then repudiate them when no 
longer useful and send them ruthlessly to the block. He was 
an amateur theologian; professed great abhorrence of Luther- 
anism, and wrote a not unlearned treatise in defense of the 
Pope; then ended by repudiating the papal power and launch- 
ing England into bitter war with the Roman Church. He could 
perpetrate acts of extreme blood and cruelty, justify them in 
the names of religion and state policy, and probably (so able 
critics have held) be sincere in believing in his own professions. 
Finally, he could tear England away from Rome and yet 
refrain from committing her to any of the usual types of 



THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 243 

Protestantism. Henry VIII was, in short, a strange compound 
of good and evil. l 

137. The divorce of Catherine of Aragon. During the earlier 
years of this young and masterful king his policy was largely 
shaped by a great chief minister, Cardinal Wolsey, who, by 
skillfully balancing France against Spain and offering the 
English alliance now to one side, now to the other, in their 




CARDINAL WOLSEY AND HIS SUITE 

incessant wars, managed to make England a leading power 
among the nations without committing her to any very exten- 
sive or exhausting campaigning. During this time, too, little 
bands of " Lutheran " sympathizers began to appear in Eng- 
land, only to be suppressed by the royal authorities invok- 
ing the old anti-heresy laws. In 1527 came the opening wedge 

1 A large part of Henry's career turned on his six unfortunate and notorious 
marriages. His wives were: (1) Catherine of Aragon (queen, 1509-33; divorced). 
(2) Anne Boleyn (1533-36; executed for alleged immorality). (3) Jane Seymour 
(1536-37; she gave birth to a prince, the later king Edward VI, and died soon 
after). (4) Anne of Cleves (1540; a foreign princess repudiated within six months 
after marriage, as homely and socially unattractive). (5) Catherine Howard 
(1540-42; executed for immorality, probably guilty). (6) Catherine Parr (1543- 
47; "a discreet lady," who survived the king). Some of these queens are further 
discussed in the text. 



244 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

for Henry's breach with Rome. He had married a Spanish 
princess, Catherine of Aragon, but had ceased to love her, and 
was deeply infatuated with a pretty maid-of-honor — Anne 
Boleyn. He now made application at Rome for an annulment 
of the marriage on various technical grounds. l 

Popes had often in the past been accommodating in the 
annulling of marriages for powerful kings; but Catherine pro- 
tested stoutly against the proceeding, and she had a potent 
advocate in her nephew, the great Emperor Charles V. Pope 
Clement VII feared Charles (who had just then conquered 
almost the whole of Italy) far more than he did Henry. After 
fruitless negotiations and half promises from the Pope, the 
" process " against Catherine came to nothing, despite the 
uttermost efforts of Wolsey. The failure cost the chief minister 
his position and his honors. He was later arrested " for high 
treason " and died ere being brought to trial (1530). His 
deathbed words have become famous: " If I had served my 
God as diligently as I have done my king, He would not have 
given me over in my gray hairs." 

Manifestly Henry could not get his divorce from Rome. 
He now hearkened to councilors who told him he could get his 
divorce in spite of Rome. 

138. The break with Rome. Protestant opinion was making 
way in England, although the majority of the people were still 
quite loyal to the old Church. But could not one keep the old 
mass service and ecclesiastical organization, and yet repudiate 
papal supremacy ? So Henry asserted, and in Thomas Cromwell, 
as his chief minister, and Thomas Cranmer, his new Arch- 

1 Henry was able to cover this move with decent pretenses, (i) His own 
deceased brother had been contracted to Catherine before Henry married her. 
Under Church law the marriage was therefore void on grounds of "consan- 
guinity," and Henry seems to have had sincere doubts about the validity of his 
marriage with Catherine, even before he met Anne. (2) Catherine had borne 
him only a daughter. Unless the king had a male heir, his death might mean a 
civil war for England. 



THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 245 

bishop of Canterbury, he found ready agents for his will. 1 
Parliament was completely at the mercy of the royal mandates: 
" Convocation " (the assembly of the English clergy) was 
browbeaten into submission. In 1532 and 1534, all payments 
to Rome were stopped by law; in 1533, all appeals to the juris- 
diction of Rome likewise; in 1534 came the logical climax, — 
the " Act of Supremacy " declared the king " Supreme Head 
on Earth, under God, of the Church of England." In other 
words, Henry substituted himself for the Pope as the head of 
the Catholic Church in England, and the " usurped authority 
of the Bishop of Rome " was expressly repudiated. Spiritual 
and temporal monarchy were thus to be yoked together in 
the same person. This was surely a religious revolt with a 
vengeance ! 

At Rome the Pope declared against Henry's application for 
a divorce, but the king had already transferred the case to the 
court of his own underling, the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
Cranmer had promptly declared the marriage null, and amid 
great festivity Henry had wedded Anne Boleyn (1533). She 
was a coarse and unscrupulous woman, and when her long 
desired child proved to be only a daughter, her influence over 
the king seemed to vanish. In 1536, she was accused of im- 
morality, and on the 19th of May was executed. On the 20th 
of May, the king was married with cynical haste to Jane 
Seymour. Poor Catherine of Aragon was now dead, but Henry 
had no intention of seeking reconciliation with Rome. In 1537, 
Jane bore him a son (Edward VI), but died in childbed. The 
king now, however, had a lawful and undoubted heir and his 
position was immensely strengthened. 

Before the death of Anne the new religious movement had 
begun to claim its noble victims. In 1535, Sir Thomas More, 

1 These men, indeed, especially Cranmer, were willing to introduce real 
Protestantism somewhat promptly into England, but the king for long restrained 
them. 



246 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

one of the noblest scholars and statesmen of England, died at 
the block, because his conscience forbade him to accept Henry 
as his religious ruler in place of the Pope. l Meantime Cromwell, 
the new chief minister, under pretext of ending the idleness, 
luxury, and vicious living which he asserted he discovered in 
the English monasteries, 2 had begun a campaign which ended 
in the confiscation and dissolution of all the abbeys in England. 
By 1539, the monks had been dispersed with often meager 
pensions, and the great monastic buildings and wide abbey 
lands seized by the king: — a most worldly-wise measure, for 
the confiscated properties were duly distributed among the 
nobility and gentry of England. Forty thousand influential 
families are thus said to have participated in the spoils of 
the Church, and almost every beneficiary became, of course, a 
zealous convert to the new religious system! 

139. The spread of Protestantism. Henry VIII tried, prob- 
ably genuinely, to make England anti-papal without making 
her Protestant. A revolt in the North in 1536 (" Pilgrimage of 
Grace "), repressed, indeed, with much blood, admonished him 
to go slowly. In 1540, Cromwell lost favor at court and was 
executed under an " Act of Attainder.'' 3 Already the old laws 
against heresy had been sharpened. Henry tried to make it 
alike perilous to be either new Protestant or old-line Catholic. 
In 1540, in London there perished in one day three " heretics," 
who were burned for unorthodox views as to transubstantia- 
tion, and three " traitors " who were " hanged, drawn, and 

1 He was the author of the famous book Utopia, and was a most distinguished 
"humanist" and friend of learning. He did not deny Henry's power as temporal 
king, but simply refused to take an oath of loyalty to his religious pretensions. 

2 Some of the English monasteries seem to have been grievously corrupt; 
others austere and well administered. There is little doubt that Cromwell's 
commissioners who investigated the monasteries were very unfair men, but the 
exact facts are hard to reach. 

3 This was a measure of Parliament declaring an offender guilty of a great 
crime and ordering his execution without trial, — a fearful engine when used by a 
despotic Government. 



THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 



'47 



quartered " for affirming that Catherine of Aragon was not 
lawfully divorced. But, in truth, the king's position was an 
untenable one. The current of events was driving him to favor 
the Protestants, if he would not go back to Rome. The courtiers 
and bishops were divided, some very conservative, some (with 
Cranmer at their head) urging more changes. And little by 
little the Protestant party prevailed. In 1539, an official 




ENGLISH WARSHIP OF THE TIME OF HENRY VIII 

translation of the Bible had been ordered 1 and its possession 
allowed to most private persons, although its free use was for 
a while forbidden to " husbandmen, artificers, journeymen, 
and to all women below the rank of gentlewoman." This, of 
course, was a mighty step toward a general religious change; 
while the next advance — the allowing part of the Church 

1 The first printed English Bible had been published by William Tyndale, 
beginning in 1525. It had to be printed in Germany, owing to official opposition 
in England. Tyndale's version seems to have been the basis for about all the 
later translations, including the "King James's Version" — now in general use. 



24 8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

liturgy to be translated into English — followed before Henry's 
death. 

True, almost down to the end the king continued to invoke 
the bloody laws of persecution almost impartially against both 
parties, but when he lay on his deathbed it was clear enough 
that the Protestant faction would control the Government for 
his son. 

Grievously imperfect as he was, Henry VIII can hardly be 
branded as a failure. The majority of his subjects were always 
loyal to him. They probably shared his dislike for violent 
religious changes; and to him can very largely be attributed 
the " middle course " taken by the English Reformation. 

140. Edward VI (1547-53). The Protestants control the 
Government. The following reign was one of the most unfor- 
tunate in English annals. The new king was only ten years of 
age, of a weakly constitution, and he died ere he really could 
govern for himself. In his name ruled a council of nobles at 
first dominated by the Duke of Somerset (an upright and just 
but unpractical man), and after his downfall (1549) by the 
Duke of Northumberland, — a selfish, worthless politician, who 
covered his unworthy personal intrigues under show of a 
vast zeal for " Protestantism." The Government was accord- 
ingly corrupt, extravagant, rapacious, and unpopular. 

Outside of London probably only a minority of the popula- 
tion wished for a religious change, but the new worship was 
introduced in a wholly violent and tactless way. Under 
specious pretense of "suppressing Popish superstition" the 
endowments of churches were confiscated for government 
favorites, the sacred vessels were melted down, venerated 
saints' images were destroyed. Most of the country people 
looked on these desecrations of time-honored objects and insti- 
tutions with a wrath which blazed up (1549) into popular 
insurrection that the regents had much trouble to suppress. 
Various general economic causes — bad harvests, the suppres- 



250 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

sion of the monastery doles to the poor, and the conversion of 
farmlands into sheep pastures — caused starvation and misery 
for the peasantry, and increased the detestation of the new 
system. The Protestants did not, indeed, lack certain men of 
capacity and zeal, and it was in this reign that Archbishop 
Cranmer introduced into the churches the famous Book of 
Common Prayer, which, along with the translated Bible, 
became one of the literary landmarks of the Reformation in 
England ; yet the haste and general unwisdom of the Reformers 
was clearly paving the way for a reaction. They completed 
their blunders when they induced the poor lad Edward VI to 
execute an illegal will depriving his half-sister Mary of the 
succession and giving the crown to his cousin, the Lady Jane 
Grey. Hardly was the will signed ere Edward died, and his 
realm returned to Catholicism. 

141. Mary Tudor (1553-58) and the Catholic reaction. Jane 
Grey (a helpless, innocent girl, the instrument of vile intrigue) 
was deposed, after a brief " reign " in London, by a general 
rising all over England in behalf of Mary, daughter of Henry 
VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Mary Tudor was now thirty- 
six years old, a proud-spirited, beautiful woman, and, true to 
her mother's memory, an ardent Catholic. She regarded the 
breach with Rome as at once an iniquity and a blunder. Had 
she been willing to conciliate public opinion, to move slowly, 
to keep clear of foreign entanglements, and to refrain from the 
extreme forms of persecution, she could probably have reestab- 
lished the old Church. But she was too ardent and sincere for 
half-measures: she was often ill-advised. Her reign proved 
itself to be one long tragic mistake. 

With almost no resistance the old Latin mass-worship was 
restored, along with the general religious institutions "most 
commonly used in England in the last year of King Henry 
VIII." But Mary wished for more than this. Not merely a 
return to the old uvrsJiip, but to the old allegiance was her 



THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 251 

desire; and at a return to dependence on Rome many English- 
men drew the line. Again, Mary offended many stanch sup- 
porters by contracting a most unpopular marriage (1554) with 
Philip (eldest son of Charles V, and soon to be King Philip of 
Spain), a prince, whom, it speedily turned out, Englishmen 
did well to distrust as a bigoted tyrant. 1 

In 1555, Mary and her council had induced Parliament to 
revive all the sharpest of the old anti-heresy laws. Most of the 
Protestant bishops of the last reign were already in prison. 
Jane Grey (a year earlier) and her more guilty supporters had 
died on the scaffold for treason, and now the queen's officials 
could embark on a vigorous campaign of persecution for heresy. 

In the three years which followed, the Protestants proved 
that, if they did not know how to govern, they at least knew 
how to die. The persecution completely effaced the discredit 
cast upon the Reformers during the last reign. Very few 
Protestants recanted before the dread alternative — " turn or 
burn." Many humbly born men and frail women went to the 
stake very bravely. " Play the man, brother Ridley," spoke 
the deposed Protestant Bishop Latimer to his fellow victim 
at Oxford; " we shall this day light such a candle, by God's 
grace, in England as I trust shall never be put out." Cranmer, 
who had at first weakened and promised to recant, rinding 
that his death was, despite all, determined upon, repudiated 
his recantation. Before a great audience at Oxford, assembled 
to hear his profession of Catholic faith, he denounced the Pope 
as " Anti- Christ " and walked firmly to the stake. 

Only about two hundred and eighty Protestants were burned 
in all England, a scant record compared with that usually 

1 It is true, Philip was merely " King Consort," and had to leave all the direct 
government to Mary and her English councilors : none the less his influence was 
considered as making for political tyranny and religious persecution. Besides, 
Englishmen were at this time justly jealous of anything that savored of inter- 
ference by the overweening power of Spain. That the English did well to mis- 
trust Philip is shown by his whole subsequent career (see chapter xxu). 



252 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

charged against the Spanish Inquisition, but Englishmen were 
not Spaniards, and the whole proceedings outraged their sense 
of justice and decency. The local authorities often hated their 
work. Outside of London the victims were relatively few. The 
unfortunate queen, pure-minded and anxious for the highest 
welfare of her people, in vain urged more energy against the 
heretics. l Every fresh bonfire made converts for the cause she 
detested. 

On other grounds her reign became intensely unpopular. 
Philip involved her in a blundering war with France, whereof 
the chief result was the capture by the French of Calais (1558), 
the last remaining conquest of the Hundred Years' War. The 
queen was suffering from an incurable disease. Her hopes for 
a child to continue her religious policy had come to naught. 
Her heir was her half-sister Elizabeth (Anne Boleyn's 
daughter), who must by her very ancestry sympathize with the 
Protestants. Mary knew she was hated by her people, who 
waited eagerly for the coming of a new sovereign; she knew 
that she was discredited in war, and that the persecution was a 
failure; yet she never discontinued the arrests and burnings. 
November 17, 1558, Mary Tudor died. She stands as one of 
the most pathetic figures in English annals. 
. 142. The economic troubles of the age. The three reigns 
we have just described were marked not merely by religious 
upheaval, but by sore economic confusion and disaster for 
England. The suppression of the monasteries had substituted 
for the easy-going, often charitable, monkish landlords a swarm 
of rapacious courtiers and country squires, who had shared in 
the royal confiscations and who now wrung the uttermost 
farthing out of their new and luckless peasant tenantry. The 

1 It is at least a fair question as to how far the queen was personally respon- 
sible for the worst phases of the persecution, and how far Bishop Gardiner, her 
chief minister, and Bishop Bonner of London were responsible. There is not the 
least doubt of the genuine belief of these men that it was the divine will that all 
heretics deserved to perish. 



THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 253 

gentry, too, used their power to eject the small tenant farmers, 
seize their lands, then " inclose them," as the saying ran, for 
their own selfish use, and turn the fields into private sheep 
pastures. So profitable, indeed, was the raising of wool for the 
Flemish trade that a great fraction of English land was delib- 
erately taken from the plough, and turned back to pasture. 
"The foot of the sheep has turned the land to gold,'*' ran the 
saying, but the gold was not for the poor outcast peasantry, 
who became mere paupers or drifted into the towns. l 

The financial policy of the Crown in this age added to the 
general confusion. Several times were the royal debts repudi- 
ated. The coinage was so debased as to unsettle all trade and 
credit. Commerce and industry became demoralized. Eng- 
land had long since lost her prestige as a conquering power 
abroad. There was some private maritime enterprise, but the 
royal navy seemed very feeble. In religious matters Protes- 
tants and Catholics had seemed to vie with one another in 
making blunders. Not for generations had England been more 
wretched at home and less respected abroad than in 1558. But 
a brighter epoch was in store. After the unlucky reigns of 
Edward VI and Mary came 

" The spacious days of great Elizabeth." 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Lollard; Cardinal Wolsey; Anne Boleyn; Thomas Cromwell; 
Cranmer; Convocation; Act of Supremacy; Sir Thomas More; Pil- 
grimage of Grace; Act of Attainder; William Tyndale; Book of Common 
Prayer; Lady Jane Grey; Bishop Gardiner; Latimer; Calais. 

2. The character of Henry VIII. Compare with that of Henry VII. 

3. Wolsey's foreign policy. 

1 This unsettling of the peasantry gradually induced great numbers of people 
to take up industrial and commercial life in the towns. In the end, England was 
made more of a manufacturing nation by Thomas Cromwell's campaign against . 
the monasteries. London grew with a rapidity which astonished and alarmed 
contemporaries, although it had only some 160,000 inhabitants in 1590. (The 
only distinctly larger city in Europe then seems to have been Paris.) 



254 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

4. How did trouble between Henry and the Papacy arise? 

5. Trace the steps in the separation from Rome. Did Henry intend to 
separate when he began these steps? 

6. Were the doctrines of the Church changed by Henry? 

7. The causes and results of the dissolution of the monasteries. 

8. How far had England changed toward Protestantism at Henry's 
death? 

9. Conditions in England under Edward VI. Who were responsible for 
them? 

10. How did these conditions affect the progress of the Protestant 
Reformation? 

11. Could Mary Tudor have brought England back to the conditions 
which existed before the separation from Rome? 

EXERCISES 

1. Find illustrations of the characteristics of Henry VIII as set forth in 
section 136. 

2. Cardinal Wolsey — his attitude toward reform in the Church. 

3. England's foreign policy under Wolsey. "The Field of the Cloth of 
Gold." 

4. How did Henry control Parliament? 

5. The "Utopia" of Sir Thomas More. 

6. Cromwell was the first great minister in England who was not a church- 
man. What is the significance of that fact? What led to Cromwell's 
fall ? Compare Cromwell with Wolsey. 

7. Economic conditions in England at the end of Henry's reign. 

8. Inclosures, and the suppression of the guilds under Edward VI. 

9. What was done toward the establishment of Protestantism under 
Edward VI? 

10. Wyatt's Rebellion. 

11. The loss of Calais. Why was the loss an important one? 

12. Economic conditions under Mary. 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 263-76. 

Modem Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 295-96, 330-33. An English history 
(Ransome, pp. 392-448). 



CHAPTER XXII 



THE AGE OF PHILIP OF SPAIN AND ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 



143. Philip II of Spain — His power and his character. In 
1556, the great Emperor of Germany and King of Spain, 
Charles V, abdicated his vast power. His brother Ferdinand 
succeeded him in the " Empire/' but the bulk of his dominions 
fell to his son, Philip II. Few po- 
tentates have inherited wider realms, 
richer revenues, more dazzling pros- 
pects. All Spain was his, with its 
ample population, its splendidly dis- 
ciplined infantry, its race of daunt- 
less, warlike nobles, who supplied 
admirable captains and adminis- 
trators. He ruled also the King- 
dom of Naples and the Duchy of 
Milan in Italy, likewise the " Low 
Countries " (modern Belgium and 
Holland), with their teeming cities 
and rich industry. Last, but not 
least, in America his viceroys held 
Mexico, Peru, and many another 
wide province, with the treasures from their numerous mines. 
Sustained by such an empire, Philip was justified in claiming 
the leadership among the princes of Europe. 

The personality of this man makes him one of the most 
peculiar figures in history. He was slow, cautious, indirect, 
distrusting bold measures, and timid in sustaining over-ener- 
getic generals. Day after day, in his cabinet in the Escurial 
Palace, near Madrid, he toiled with his secretaries at the spider 




IMPERIAL HERALD, SIX- 
TEENTH CENTURY 
(From a woodcut by Ostendorfer) 



256 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



net of intrigue and diplomacy that was to enmesh all Christen- 
dom. He was entirely unscrupulous in his methods. He crushed 
the last vestiges of local liberty in Spain, where he ruled as an 




THE NETHERLANDS AT THE ACCESSION OF PHILIP II 



absolute despot. He removed prominent opponents by the 
dagger when he could not send them to the block. He was 
remorseless in deluging wide countries in blood by war or 



THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 257 

massacre. He was ardently devoted to the Catholic faith, and 
was the sworn foe of Protestantism, yet his triumph would 
possibly have put the Pope in permanent dependence upon his 
officious and formidable " son," the King of Spain. 1 Privately 
he seems to have been a kind husband, and an affectionate 
father to his daughters. His personal followers regarded him 
as a kind of saint, yet there is little doubt that the success of 
his tortuous projects would have spelled tyranny and ruin for 
Catholic no less than for Protestant Europe. These projects, 
however, failed. Their failure was due largely to three remark- 
able persons — Elizabetn of England, William the Silent, and 
Henry of Navarre. 

144. How Elizabeth began her reign. In 1558, Elizabeth, 
daughter of Henry VIII and the ill-starred Anne Boleyn, was 
proclaimed Queen of England upon the death of her half-sister 
Mary. She was twenty-five years old. From her father she 
had inherited the Tudor characteristics — marked physical 
strength, energy, courage, hauteur, decided coarseness, and a 
considerable inclination for ostentatious display. From her 
mother she took no little personal charm and a certain insin- 
cerity and love of artifice that made her at times as indirect 
and sinuous in policy as her great opponent Philip. But above 
all else, Elizabeth had a keen judgment as to men and measures, 
a real desire for the good of her people, and a ready common 
sense, which, blended with her womanly intuition, carried her 
through many crises. She had the good fortune to secure, in 
Sir William Cecil (who later became Lord Burghley) and in 
Sir Francis Walsingham, two ministers of remarkable energy 
and ability. To them must be attributed a large part of the 
success of Elizabeth's reign; yet they never overshadowed their 
mistress. Elizabeth always asserted her own will, and directed 

1 At one time (1556-59) Philip was actually at war with the Pope, over mat- 
ters of temporal interest, and his attitude toward the Vatican was frequently 
bullying and dictatorial. 



258 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



the affairs of state, while often her wisdom surpassed that of 
her ministers. 

At the moment of her accession the situation for England 
was dark. Mary's domestic policy had been a failure, marked 
as it was by religious persecution and economic decline. 
Commerce and industry were stagnant. Her foreign policy, 
controlled by Philip, had cost England Calais, and, what was 




% 

QUEEN ELIZABETH CARRIED IN STATE 

more valuable, English prestige and self-respect. Could Eliz- 
abeth bring back peace, prosperity, and national honor? The 
problem was a highly difficult one. 

The accession of Elizabeth implied a return of England to 
Protestantism. The persecution by Mary had disgusted great 
numbers of Englishmen with the old Church; and Elizabeth 
(if she was to reign as queen) could not be a Catholic; for as a 
Catholic she would have to admit that according to the canon 
law of the Church her father's marriage to Anne Boleyn was 
unlawful, and that she herself was illegitimate; — the crown 
thus passing to Mary, Queen of Scots. Elizabeth certainly 



THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 259 

had no great leaning toward the more advanced type of 
Protestantism, but with her accession the persecution ceased, 
and soon afterwards the English Pray er-B 00k was reestablished 
by act of Parliament, together with a studiously moderate form 
of Protestantism in the English Church. The more zealous 
Catholics naturally were disaffected, as were the extreme 
Protestants, but by the majority of the nation — not theo- 
logically inclined — the " Elizabethan Settlement" 1 of the 
Church was received without much grumbling. Very harsh 
laws were enacted against the " Popish recusants," but for 
long the queen carefully refrained from putting them in force. 
She always claimed that she never persecuted her enemies for 
their religion. When they began (after she had reigned for 
some time) to form plots against her Government and life, she 
punished them for " treason," and tried to make their suppres- 
sion merely a secular matter. 

Philip, as the Catholic champion, was naturally disturbed 
at this religious policy of " his sister of England," He offered 
to marry her himself — the ceremony to be followed, of course, 
by the reintroduction of Catholicism. She graciously declined, 
and he feared at first to coerce her lest he drive England into 
the arms of his great rival, France. 2 So for the first ten years 
of her reign she was able to keep the peace and to promote the 
unity and prosperity of her people; while she and all Europe 

1 Virtually the "Episcopalian" system as it is understood in England to-day. 

2 Elizabeth never married. She thoroughly realized the advantage given her, 
in diplomatic dealings, by threatening at frequent intervals to marry a French 
prince, an act so unfortunate for Spain that Philip dared not drive her to 
extremities lest she carry out her purpose. Probably she was at one time really 
attached to the showy Earl of Leicester (her "sweet Robin"), but the diplomatic 
situation was never so clear that she dared to marry a mere subject. As a 
"virgin queen," appealing artfully to the privileges of unprotected womanhood, 
Elizabeth was able to secure the chivalrous devotion of many distinguished 
Englishmen — e.g., the famous voyager Sir Walter Raleigh — and to secure a 
passionate loyalty such as has been gained by few monarchs. — In her last 
speech (1601) to Parliament she made the boast, " I do call God to witness that 
never thought was cherished in my heart that tended not to my people's good ": 
and to her loyal subjects these proud words rang true. 



2 6o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

watched events in Scotland, where Mary Stuart, the woman 
with possibly better legal claims to the English crown than 
Elizabeth, played her game of intrigue for high stakes — and 
lost. 

145. Mary Stuart blunders in Scotland. Mary Stuart was 
in her own right the queen of the relatively poor and barren 
country of Scotland. If, however, Elizabeth was illegitimate, 
as most Catholics held, Mary was the lawful Queen of England. 
She had been married to King Francis II of France, but in 
1560, her husband died, and the distracted condition of her 
native kingdom called her homeward. Protestantism of the 
stern Calvinistic type had been accepted already by the Scots 
after sundry partisan struggles. Mary was an earnest Catholic, 
but returned under pledge to respect the religion of her sub- 
jects. But the Scottish lords were a turbulent, ill-united lot, 
and many were quite willing to return to the old faith if they 
could obtain personal advantages thereby. Mary was beautiful 
and charming. She was almost as able as Elizabeth; she had 
the support of the great influence of the Catholic Church and 
the favor also of France, but she did not have Elizabeth's 
sanity and poise in great crises. It seemed, however, not very 
difficult to win back the Scottish lords, then to stir up Catholic 
disaffection in England, and drive Anne Boleyn's daughter 
from the throne. 

Yet Mary failed absolutely, partly because her intrigues 
were thwarted by " dour John Knox," the famous Scottish 
Calvinist preacher, who warned his countrymen against her 
undertakings; partly through her most unfortunate marriage 
and its results. In 1565, she had married her cousin, a Lord 
Darnley, and by him had a son (the future James I of England), 
but by 1567, the queen and her weak and debauched husband 
were hopelessly estranged. Darnley perished in a gunpowder 
explosion undoubtedly planned by Mary's lover, the infamous 
Earl of Bothwell, probably with the guilty knowledge of Mary, 




^m^ L Ai&& • 



&,-&- -- b» 



ELIZABETH 

Queen of England (1558-1603). In the superb dress in which she went to St. Paul's 
Born 1533 Died 1603 



THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 261 

whom he soon married. 1 The outraged Scots flew to arms and 
overpowered their queen. Mary was imprisoned; then escaped 
and gathered an army. At Langside, in 1568, her troops were 
routed, and a regency ruled in Scotland in the name of her 
infant son. Mary was driven to seek refuge in England, where 
Elizabeth received her with cold courtesy, but held her a state 
prisoner, as it proved, for life. 

146. William the Silent and the revolt of the Netherlands. 
And now came on the scene the second great enemy of Philip 
— William, Prince of Orange, called, for his wise habit of 
reticence on proper occasions, " William the Silent." 2 Just 
when the failure of Mary released Philip largely from the fear 
of a French domination in England, and left him free to attack 
Elizabeth himself, the richest portion of his empire, under 
William's leadership, rose in revolt against him. 

The " Low Countries," or Netherlands, at the mouth of the 
Rhine, were distinguished for their wealth, culture, and indus- 
try. Antwerp, their commercial capital, was the greatest mart 
in the world, next to Venice; the fishing-boats of the Hollanders 
covered the North Sea; the looms of Flanders supplied a great 
part of the globe with woolens. The cities and provinces, how- 
ever, were proud of their local rights and privileges, won often 
by bitter struggles. In many districts Protestantism had made 
marked progress, despite a drastic persecution under Charles V. 
Philip II, about 1560, undertook a tyrannous policy of curbing 
the Netherlander' liberties, of subjecting them to a grinding 
taxation, of introducing the hated "Spanish Inquisition"* 

1 The question of Mary's guilt rests on the famous "Casket Letters." If they 
were genuine, she was a murderess; but their authenticity can never be settled. 

2 See Harrison's William the Silent, pp. 22-23, for the origin of this famous 
nickname. William was really genial and loquacious in proper society. 

3 The Spanish Inquisition, a revival of the old mediaeval Inquisition,was set up 
(1483) by Ferdinand and Isabella as a means of reclaiming the Christianized 
Jews and Moors of their dominions, who had lapsed into their old religion. Its 
cruel methods — arrest on mere suspicion, torture, refusal to confront the accused 
with evidence, etc. — are undoubted facts; but historians are divided as to how 



262 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

as a means of sharpening the already severe anti-heresy 
laws. l 

A proud and freedom-loving people were not slow in showing 
marked signs of rebellion. In 1567, Philip sent his favorite 
general, the Duke of Alva, to the Netherlands, with orders to 
reduce them to complete subjection and to extinguish heresy. 
Alva was backed by a force of Spanish veterans, and under- 
stood no methods of persuasion but those of blood. A whole- 
sale proscription of every soul concerned in the various recent 
demonstrations against the king's oppressive measures af- 
flicted the Catholics almost as much as the Protestants. The 
Count of Egmont, one of the first noblemen of the country, 
and an ardent supporter of the old Church, perished on the 
scaffold (1568), and Alva's infamous " Blood Council " dis- 
patched to like fate thousands of others. The spirit of this 
tribunal is well illustrated by the tale that one of the judges 
was accustomed to doze during the deliberations, and only 
wake enough to murmur " Hang him! " when the farce of a 
trial was over. For a moment the country seemed cowed, 
but mere despair raised a new revolt and a mighty cham- 
pion. 

William, Prince of Orange, 2 had been one of Philip's chief 
lieutenants in the rule of the Netherlands, but he had wearied 
of the Spaniard's tyrannous methods, and was sympathetic 
with Protestantism. When Alva entered the country, he wisely 
withdrew to Germany, then declared himself a Protestant and 

far the Catholic Church, and how far simply the Spanish Government, was 
responsible for its excesses. It naturally became a tremendous weapon against 
the Protestants. Even the Netherland Catholics resisted its coming on account 
of its misuse for political ends. 

1 Philip's great blunder was that — a Spaniard himself — he believed his free 
Northern subjects would submit readily to a despotism to which Spain was 
accustomed. 

2 The principality of Orange, which gave William this title, lay in south- 
eastern France, but he also was of the German House of Nassau, and had 
considerable estates in Holland. He had practically the rank of a petty sove- 
reign, 



264 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

bided his time. Other leaders of the age were far more brilliant 
for the hour than he, but none so tenacious, skillful in dealing 
with men, or more gifted with a noble courage which did not 
shrink when every hope seemed quenched. He fought Philip 
in his games of intrigue and diplomacy, and checkmated him; 
he had a marvelous gift of keeping the loving loyalty of his 
followers; he likewise maintained himself confident and se- 
rene amid every danger. The modern Dutch are justified in 
claiming their " Father William " as one of the heroes of the 
ages. 

After several unsuccessful attempts at revolt, in 1572, a 
band of sailors, William's privateersmen, seized Brill, a small 
seaport town in Holland, and defied every effort of the Span- 
iards to oust them. The blaze of rebellion spread; speedily 
William found himself at the head of the two small provinces 
of Zeeland and Holland, and with these preparing to brave the 
united efforts of Alva and Philip to reconquer them. Holding 
this mere corner of the land, between the remaining Spanish 
possessions and the German Ocean, here for some years 
William and his Hollanders stood at bay against the whole 
power of Philip. For a long time only a few subsidies, warily 
afforded by Elizabeth, came to aid them. It seemed the con- 
test of a dwarf and a giant, but the dwarf was not conquered. 
Behind their walls the Dutch cities made a heroic defense. 
Haarlem only succumbed to starvation after a siege which cost 
Alva very dear. He found the situation beyond his grasp, and 
in 1573 retired to give place to less brutish though not really 
more merciful commanders. His successors did not prosper 
better. In 1574, they staked everything on a siege of the im- 
portant city of Leyden. Provisions were at an end; cats and 
rats had all been eaten, but the defense went on; the heroic 
burgomaster telling his starving folk that they might devour 
his body, but he would not surrender to the Spanish butchers. 
Then at the last moment came a dramatic deliverance. The 



THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 265 

Prince of Orange had cut the dikes holding back the sea. 1 A 
strong wind swept the waters over the Spanish camp. The 
besiegers fled for their lives. The Dutch ships sailed with men 
and provisions through the very gates of the despairing city. 

This was really the turning-point of the war. Through it all 
William never lost his calm trust in his cause and in Heaven. 
An anxious deputation once came to him asking him to make 
some powerful alliances against the overwhelming power of 
Spain. " Know you," he answered, " that in this enterprise I 
have made a most powerful alliance — it is with the King of 
kings." 

Soon after the relief of Ley den, the mutinous Spanish army, 
having been left unpaid by Philip, began to plunder the 
" loyal " southern provinces, and finally sacked the great city 
of Antwerp (the " Spanish Fury "). This was enough to drive 
these provinces also temporarily into revolt against Spain; 
but in the south, where the number of Protestants was small, 
and the sense of disaffection least, a shrewd general now sent 
out by Philip — Alexander of Parma — presently recovered 
his master's authority. In the northern half of the country, 
however, William more than held his own. In 1581, this sec- 
tion of the Netherlands formally declared its independence of 
Philip. " The Dutch Republic " was born, — " Republic " in 
name, although with a strong aristocratic element in the 
Government; and in William as " Stadtholder " (a kind of 
president) it possessed an uncrowned king. His work was 
really accomplished, although the war was very far from ended. 
Philip at last did away with this mortal enemy by the assassin's 
pistol. In 1584, William was murdered by a fanatic, Gerard, 
who had been offered a great reward by Philip for his bloody 
deed. William perished, but Gerard was captured and died by 
tortures, never gaining the promised pelf from Philip. The 

1 As is perhaps well known, a large part of the Netherlands is below sea-level, 
and protected only by a vast system of dikes and embankments. 



266 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

king was thus rid of one great adversary, but he still had to 
reckon with Elizabeth. 

147. The execution of Mary Stuart. To Elizabeth the revolt 
of the Netherlands had been a blessed reprieve from Spanish 
pressure. Philip was too busy with his revolted subjects to 
devote all his power to crushing the heretic queen; but from 
1568 to 1587, Mary of Scotland was still alive and a source of 
vast trouble to Elizabeth, although confined in one or another 
of the English castles. She was no submissive captive. Around 
her centered countless intrigues usually promoted by the 
Catholic party in England, always with the end that Elizabeth 
was to be flung from the throne and replaced by Mary. But 
year after year the English nation had become more contented 
under Elizabeth's firm, peaceful, just, and economical rule; 
and a new generation was rising, born and bred to Protestant- 
ism. As a result the plots of the malcontents became more 
desperate and more open. In 1586, Mary was accused of being 
privy to what was known as ' k Babington's Conspiracy" for 
the murder of Elizabeth. It is probable that she was guilty. 
As an " outraged captive " she was possibly justified in using 
any possible means to secure her liberty and rights, but the 
real question was whether this " daughter of discord " was to 
continue to be the center of conspiracies against the whole 
peace of England. Elizabeth hesitated long in ordering the 
shedding of royal blood, but at last her ministers induced her 
to sign the warrant; then they had it executed without her 
knowledge. Mary was beheaded in 1587. 

148. The Spanish Armada. The death of Mary, however, 
seemed to simplify the task of Philip. Hitherto, if he had 
crushed Elizabeth, he would only have won a throne for Mary. 
Now, however, there were some distant claims upon the 
English crown which he could revive for his own family, and 
might would make them right. Besides, Elizabeth of late had 
been sending decidedly active succor to his Netherland rebels. 




WILLIAM THE SILENT 

Founder of the Dutch Republic 
Born 1533 Died 1584 



THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 267 

Conquering England would be the first step to regaining the 
Low Countries. By 1588, — after many delays, — a huge 
armament was ready in the ports of Spain for the reducing of 
England. If it had been a matter of land fighting, Philip might 
well have expected triumph. His soldiers and generals were 
undoubtedly the best in the world; but the Spaniards had never 
taken very eagerly to the sea. Their ships were unwieldy, 
slow, and built for boarding warfare rather than cannonading; 
their crews intended for land service quite as much as for 
purely naval warfare. On the other hand, under Elizabeth 
had developed the true English sea-power; a small but efficient 
navy of swift, handy, and heavily armed ships, and, better 
still, a race of hardy " sea-dogs," — captains and men, — who 
like Sir Francis Drake had raided the Spanish West Indies, and 
sailed around the globe, after buccaneering exploits which make 
history sound like romance. 

Philip's " Invincible" Armada, according to most accounts, 
one hundred and thirty-two ponderous ships, l appeared in the 
Channel in July, 1588, headed for the Low Countries, thence 
to convoy over Alexander of Parma with a huge army for the 
conquest of England. 2 Not since Greek and Persian fought at 
Salamis had there been as momentous a sea-fight. For a week 
the lighter English squadrons pelted and chased the Armada 
as it fought its way along the French coast to Calais; there by 
night they threw the Spaniards into sore confusion by a suc- 
cessful attack with fire-ships. The next day, in a desperate 
running battle, the English won a complete victory. The panic- 
stricken Spaniards abandoned all hopes of convoying Parma 

1 Not more than fifty of these were battleships; the rest were really transports. 
The whole Spanish campaign was built on the idea of throwing a land army into 
England — not of simply beating the English fleet. 

2 Philip had counted on the support of the Catholic nobles of England. He 
was entirely deceived. They remembered only that they were Englishmen 
rallying around their queen. Lord Howard, Elizabeth's high admiral in 1588, 
was a Catholic. 



268 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



and fled to the north, seeking to return home by rounding 
Scotland. Then the ocean gales completed the work begun by 
Elizabeth's cannon-balls. Many ships foundered, or were cast 
ashore on Norway, Scotland, or Ireland. Only fifty-three 
wrecks limped back to Spain. Philip had hazarded half his 
power on one throw of the dice, and now was hopelessly crip- 
pled. The defeat of the Spanish Armada was more than a great 
naval battle. It implied the downfall of Spain as a world- 
power and the establishment of the naval supremacy of Eng- 
land, and made possible the English colonization of America. 
149. The Huguenots in France and Henry of Navarre. The 
third champion with whom Philip became involved to his cost 
was Henry of Navarre, destined to become 
Henry IV of France (1589-1610). The story 
of France in the sixteenth century is the story 
of inefficient kings, first dragging her into un- 
successful campaigns against Spain for the 
possession of Italy, next allowing their tur- 
bulent nobles to get out of hand and involve 
the country in a series of desolating, fratri- 
cidal civil wars. This interval gave Philip his 
great opportunity. The last three kings of 
the old Valois dynasty (Francis II, Charles 
IX, and Henry III) were little better than 
vicious nonentities. Far more important as 
a ruler was their mother, Catherine de 
Medici (d. 1589); but her power was almost 
overshadowed at times by the mighty Dukes 
of Guise, who, under the color of leading the 
attack on Protestantism, threatened to be- 
come more powerful than the Crown itself. 

Protestantism never gained a firm hold upon the com- 
mon folk of France, although a large fraction of the nobility 
turned Calvinist. Moreover, although the French Protestants 




A FRENCH PROT- 
ESTANT MUSK- 
ETEER 
Time of Henry IV. 

(From a restoration in 
the M usee d'Artilleric) 



THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 269 

(" Huguenots ") l produced many men of noble virtue and lofty- 
aims, the whole movement took too much the character of an 
attack on the royal authority, and a fresh assertion by the 
nobles of their jealousy of the Crown. For this cause the old 
Church was destined to an ultimate triumph. The story of the 
" Wars of Religion " in France forms a dreary chapter of blood 
and mutual intolerance. These contests began in 1560, and 
continued, interrupted by deceitful truces, until 1598. They 
reduced France to extreme misery, and completely prevented 
her for a while from checking her great rival of Spain. In 1572 
came the infamous " Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day," 
when, during a time of seemingly secure peace, over one thou- 
sand Protestants, including their leader, Coligny, were mas- 
sacred in cold blood at Paris, and ten thousand more in the 
provinces. Catherine appears to have been the prime power in 
the outrage, and her motive was rather political jealousy of the 
Huguenot chieftain, Coligny, than mere religious fanaticism. 
The massacre did not ruin the Protestants. They flew to arms 
once more, and especially held their own in the south of France, 
where lay their main numbers. Their new leader was Henry, 
sovereign of the petty kingdom of Navarre, but also next in 
succession to the crown of France when the weakling sons of 
Catherine should perish. 

Henry was an ideal leader for a desperate cause. He lacked 
refinement and had many private vices, but he was a dashing 
cavalry officer, genial and dauntless, who kept the loyalty of 
his iron-handed, psalm-singing Huguenot troopers when the 
odds seemed sorely against him. In 1589, the last Valois king 
died, and Henry — as head of the Bourbon side-line — was 
recognized as Henry IV, sovereign of France, by all the 
Protestants and by the more moderate Catholics. 

An extreme clerical faction (the " League"), however, held 

1 The name is usually explained as a corruption of the German word "Eid- 
genossen" — "Confederates." 



2 yo HISTORY OF EUROPE 

out against him, and put up a pretender, and supporting this 
pretender were Spanish gold-pieces and Spanish pikemen ; for 
Philip, having failed to subdue the Netherlands, and having 
failed against England, now attempted one last great stroke, 
— to thrust a puppet on the throne of France, — and through 
him to win a realm greater than England or the Low Countries. 

Paris was secured by Henry's enemies. A Spanish army was 
dispatched against him, but at Ivry 1 (1590) his gallantly com- 
manded cavalry rode over the host of invaders and French 
rebels and won a brilliant victory. Paris, nevertheless, for 
some years defied all his efforts to take her ; and it was evident 
that France as a nation would never accept a Protestant king. 
Henry IV was no man, however, to be troubled by theological 
scruples. " Paris is well worth a mass," he cynically remarked; 
and allowed himself to be " instructed " in Catholicism, and 
returned to the old Church. Resistance to him now crumbled 
rapidly. Paris capitulated. Philip continued the war for some 
years, but Henry IV was now the undoubted lord of his 
ancestral dominions. In 1598, he made peace with Philip, who 
recognized him as lawful King of France. Henry secured ample 
toleration to the Protestants by his famous " Edict of Nantes " 
(1598), and the last twelve years of his reign were wisely 
devoted to advancing the internal peace and prosperity of 
France. 

150. Conclusion of the Epoch. In September, 1598, Philip 
II died at the Escurial. All his vast projects had come to 
nothing. Half of the Low Countries were in successful revolt 
and were formed into the " Dutch Republic." They were soon 
destined to develop industries and a maritime commerce which 
made them almost the richest nation of the world. England, 
guided by Elizabeth, was in the full noon of remarkable pros- 
perity. A wonderful spirit of enterprise of every kind prevailed. 
Abroad, English seamen were carrying their flag to the remot- 

1 This place is some fifty miles west of Paris. 



THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 



271 



est lands: at home Shakespeare was composing his plays, and 
Spenser his immortal poem the " Faerie Queen." In France, 
the firm, wise government of Henry IV was preparing that 
great nation to overshadow the destinies of Europe for the next 




THE GLOBE — SHAKESPEARE'S THEATER 



two centuries. Only Spain was ruined. The Inquisition had 
destroyed her freedom of thought. The despotic taxation of 
Philip had ruined her industries and commerce. Her best 
blood had been wasted in disastrous wars on a hundred battle- 
fields. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Charles V; Elizabethan Settlement; John Knox; Lord 
Darnley; William the Silent; the Spanish Inquisition; Duke of Alva; 
Egmont; Blood Council; Leyden; the Spanish Fury; Alexander of 
Parma; Stadtholder; Babington's Conspiracy; the "Invincible 
Armada"; Sir Francis Drake; Henry of Navarre; Catherine de Medici; 
Huguenots; St. Bartholomew's Day; the League; Edict of Nantes. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Holland; Flanders; Orange; Brill; Zeeland; Haarlem; 
Leyden; Calais; Ivry. 



27* HISTORY OF EUROPE 

(b) Mark the territories belonging to Philip II at his accession. 

(c) Mark the territories of the Dutch Republic. 

3. How did Philip compare in power with other rulers of his time? Was 
the fact that his lands were scattered an advantage or not? 

4. The character of Philip II. 

5. The character of Elizabeth Tudor. Compare with that of Mary Tudor. 

6. What were the conditions in England at the accession of Elizabeth? 
Compare with the conditions which faced Henry II and Henry VII at 
their accession. 

7. How did Elizabeth settle the religious question? 

8. What were the reasons for the revolt of the Netherlands? 

9. The character and work of William of Orange. 

10. Was the execution of Mary Stuart justifiable? 

11. Why did Elizabeth send help to the Dutch after William's death? 

12. The Armada: make a summary showing the reasons why Philip sent 
it; its object; the reasons for its failure. 

13. The conditions in France under the last Valois kings. 

14. Compare, in their effects upon the countries, the Wars of Religion in 
France and the Wars of the Roses in England. 

15. Compare the conditions in England, France, and Spain at the end of 
the sixteenth century. 

EXERCISES 

1. Compare industrial conditions in Spain and in the Low Countries. 

2. The work of Cecil and Walsingham. 

3. The marriage negotiations of Elizabeth. 

4. The Acts of Supremacy and of Uniformity, 1559. 

5. Mary Stuart in Scotland, to 1568. 

6. Why did Elizabeth keep Mary a prisoner in England, instead of re- 
leasing her, or returning her to Scotland? 

7. The "Beggars." 

8. The siege of Leyden. 

9. What later events made it possible for the Dutch to maintain their 
independence? 

10. The conspiracies against Elizabeth. 

11. Sir Francis Drake and the English seamen. 

12. The growth of English commerce under Elizabeth. 

13. Catherine de Medici and the Wars of Religion in France. 

14. Admiral Coligny. 

15. The Dukes of Guise. 

16. The Treaty of Vervins. Compare with the Peace of Cateau-Cambresis. 

17. Henry IV and Sully — their internal reforms. 



THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 273 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 280-91. 

Modem accounts. Seignobos: pp. 266-67, 298-99, 314-30, 333-44, 406-10. 
Gibbins: pp. 121-26, 128-30, 134-38. Pattison: pp. 245-73. Duruy: 
pp. 332-84. Lodge: chapters vni, ix. An English history (Ransome, 
pp. 448-85). 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE EARLY STUARTS IN ENGLAND 

151. James I (1603-25) — the " wise fool ' of England. 
In 1603, James I 1 succeeded Elizabeth, the mighty Queen of 
England. The new sovereign was the son of the ill-starred 
Mary, Queen of Scots, and the equally ill-starred Lord 
Darnley. Bred among the stern Scotch Presbyterians, he had 
conceived little love for their semi-democratic habits, and their 
custom of giving their king broad and unwelcome advice. His 
own views of the powers of royalty were decisive. In his own 
eyes he was an absolute and irresponsible monarch. " As it is 
atheism and blasphemy to dispute what God can do," he once 
asserted, " so it is presumption and high treason for a subject 
to dispute what a king can do." He was a pedantic, undignified 
man, very convinced of his own importance, learning, and 
infallibility. kt The wisest fool in Christendom/ ' so the witty 
Henry IV of France remarked of him. A little saving sense 
of humor, a certain amount of good nature, and occasional 
flashes of real insight saved him from crowning disasters; but 
he had many passages at arms with his high-spirited people, 
and left a heritage of discord to his unlucky son. 

152. The Gunpowder Plot (1605). Two classes of English- 
men whom Elizabeth had oppressed, at first welcomed James's 
accession: — the Puritans, i.e., those advanced Protestants 
who found the type of Protestantism established by the queen 
" still savoring of Rome "; and the Catholics, who believed the 
son of Mary Stuart would relax the laws aimed against the 
religion of his mother. Both were disappointed. James had 
gained no liking in Scotland for the " Presbyterianism " (the 

1 Reckoned as a King of Scotland, he stands as James VI. 



THE EARLY STUARTS IN ENGLAND 275 

Scotch type of Calvinism) which most of the Puritans favored; 
and listened with eager ear to the obsequious Church of Eng- 
land prelates who asserted that " His Majesty spoke with the 
spirit of God." When the Puritan ministers presented a great 
petition asking for certain ecclesiastical alterations, the king 
cried in wrath, " I'll make them conform, or I'll harry them 
out of the land." 1 

The Puritans were driven into sullen disaffection, but their 
Catholic rivals were not more fortunate. James was delighted 
with the English Church, whereof he seemed to be the head, 
alike free from Pope or Presbytery. The anti-Catholic laws 
for the imprisonment of priests, the suppression of masses, 
etc., were enforced with rigor. In their desperation certain 
Catholics resolved that all means were permissible against a 
tyrant. A certain Guy Fawkes, in combination with Catesby 
and other conspirators, formed the astounding project of hiring 
a house next to that wherein Parliament met, of introducing 
a quantity of gunpowder, and when King, Lords, and Com- 
mons were met together, of destroying James and all his 
Government at one great clap. In the confusion following the 
explosion, these Catholics hoped to be able to seize the Govern- 
ment ; but at the last moment the plot slipped out (November 
5, 1605). Fawkes was arrested at the powder barrels. The 
other conspirators were seized, and many were cruelly tortured 
ere being executed. The whole incident naturally increased 
James's distrust of the Catholics, and made the average Eng- 
lish Protestants more confirmed in their faith than ever. The 
" Gunpowder Plot " and the " Fifth of November " were to 
be the excuses for a shameful amount of persecution of harm- 
less Catholics during the next two centuries in England. 

1 " A Presbytery agreed with monarchy as well as God with the Devil," James 
asserted to the petitioners. Only one real wish did the Puritans gain: James 
caused to be made the famous "Authorized Translation" ("King James Ver- 
sion") of the Bible, which proved one of the most important landmarks in Eng- 
lish literature, as well as in religion. 



276 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



153. The Spanish marriage. James's reign was decidedly 
inglorious. In 1604, against the nation's wishes he had made 
peace with Spain. The great spirit of maritime adventure 
which was so fostered by Elizabeth in her wars was allowed to 
wane, although a beginning was made in the colonizing of 
America in Virginia and (with little enough help from the 
King!) at Plymouth. James had an exaggerated idea of the 
wealth and power of Spain; little realizing that, with the col- 
lapse of the great pro- 
gram of Philip II, the 
strength of Spain was 
nearly exhausted. James 
was exceedingly anxious 
to win a Spanish princess 
as bride for his son Prince 
Charles. To satisfy Spain 
he executed, for alleged 
high treason, Sir Walter 
Raleigh (1618), one of 
Elizabeth's great states- 
men and admirals, whose 
real offense was in being 
the head of the anti-Span- 
ish party in England. In 
1623, Prince Charles ac- 
tually made a journey to 
Madrid to win the hand of a Spanish infanta; but the Spaniards 
made it an absolute condition of the match .that toleration 
should be given to the English Catholics, and that this should 
be confirmed by Parliament. The " wise fool " was wise enough 
to realize that he was having sufficient difficulties with his 
Commons already without asking favors for the hated " Pa- 
pists." To the great joy of most Englishmen, the Spanish 
match was broken off. Prince Charles arranged to marry a 




AN ENGLISH NOBLEMAN AND HIS WIFE, 

IN THE TIME OF JAMES I 

From a contemporary print in the British Museum 



THE EARLY STUARTS IN ENGLAND 



277 



princess from France, where less disputatious conditions were 
demanded. 

154. James and his Parliaments. James had thus alienated 
the Puritans and the Catholics, and had put himself on cold 
terms with Spain. He also offended the great bulk of his Church 
of England subjects by his financial policy. He was a bad 
financial manager, and the taxes which had sufficed for Eliza- 
beth did not satisfy his extravagant court. Four times he 
convened Parliament, and each time there was bitter com- 
plaint at this high-handed policy in taxing every available 
object of revenue with 



only a very warped legal 
authority for so doing. 
The "absolute king" 
stormed at the niggard- 
ly money grants voted 
by the Commons: the 
Commons retaliated by 
denouncing the sales 
of " monopolies " in 
trade and manufacture, 
whereby the king had 
eked out his insufficient 
revenues, and attacked 
the misdeeds of the 
royal ministers and fa- 
vorites. In 162 1, they actually impeached Lord Bacon, the 




BELLMAN OF LONDON, 1616, MAKING HIS 
NIGHTLY ROUND 

From a title-page in the Bagford Collection, British 
Museum 



Royal Chancellor, l for malfeasance as a judge, and drove him, 
a ruined man, from office. No great disasters occurred, but the 
reign went out amid petty bickerings and widespread ill feeling. 
In March, 1625, James I died. His reign, in the sense of imme- 
diate happenings, had been unimportant. He had possessed 

1 A most distinguished philosopher, but a man whose practice and theory 
hardly corresponded. 



278 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

sufficient wisdom to keep from acts which would drive his sub- 
jects to rebellion; but in his absolutist theories and in his 
frequent defiance of what were cherished as " the liberties of 
England," l he had set an evil example to his successor. In 
1603, England had been profoundly loyal to the monarchy of 
Elizabeth. By 1625, that loyalty had very largely evaporated. 
In the ensuing reign an unwise king and an exasperated people 
were to drift into armed hostility. 

155. Charles I (1625-49) and tne Duke of Buckingham. The 
new king was personally a better man than his father. He was 
handsome, athletic, dignified, a kind father, and an amiable 
friend; but he was hopelessly obsessed with his father's 
notions of the " divine right of kings "; he was so devoted a 
son of the Church of England that he was unable to have the 
least sympathy with his people when they preferred another 
confession. To him Parliaments and laws protecting the sub- 
ject were at best necessary evils, to be avoided and dispensed 
with by every means short of military tyranny. 

At Charles's elbow for the first three years of his reign was 
George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, a clever, supple, unscru- 
pulous nobleman, who from practical insignificance had risen 
to be the indispensable favorite and chief minister of James. 
He retained his influence over Charles. Widely as Bucking- 
ham was hated, both as the agent of arbitrary power and for 
his own arrogance and self-seeking, Charles kept implicit 
confidence in him down to 1628, when he was assassinated by 
a discontented subaltern officer. It was a good riddance 
for Charles and for England; but the young king was too 
firmly rooted in his absolutist notions to seek more liberal 
ministers. Charles drifted from blunder to blunder, until the 
residuum of good will of the English people toward their 
monarchy was entirely exhausted. 

1 "The liberties of England" were, of course, vague matters, but to most 
laymen they probably meant frequent Parliaments, the absence of arbitrary 
arrests and punishments, no taxation without parliamentary authorization, etc. 



THE EARLY STUARTS IN ENGLAND 279 

156. Charles's quarrels with his Parliaments. To under- 
stand the position of the opponents of Charles, it should be 
realized that his critics in Parliament did not concede that 
they were asserting any new liberties for the people: their 
declaration always was that they were simply vindicating the 
old customs and liberties of England, against the growing 
tyranny of the Crown. They still professed great respect for 
the person of the monarch: it was simply " his evil ministers 
and advisers " who fell under their displeasure. On the other 
hand, Charles could probably claim that he was not exercising 
greater authority than had been exercised by Elizabeth. This 
was true, but Elizabeth had been wise enough to keep to the 
letter of the law even in acts of sheer absolutism: besides, 
Elizabeth had the love and confidence of her people, — the 
best possible bulwark for a sovereign. Charles had not that 
love and confidence, and he blunderingly violated the old laws 
at every turn. It is not, then, surprising that one contention 
followed another. 

Charles convened Parliament thrice in the earlier years of 
his reign, and each assembly ended with an increased amount 
of ill-feeling. There were complaints by the Crown that the 
Commons was hampering the Government in its foreign policy 
by its niggardly votes of taxes : l there were louder complaints 
by the Commons that the Crown was indulging in arbitrary 
imprisonment of inimical persons, in unauthorized taxation, 
in forced loans, and in quartering soldiers on private persons 
to make them comply with its wishes; and also that the king 
was surrounded with rascally favorites. In 1628, matters 
culminated in the " Petition of Right " presented by Parlia- 
ment, a great constitutional document summarizing these 
grievances and demanding reform. Charles affected to give 

1 Charles drifted into wars with Spain and France. These contests were con- 
ducted without ability or energy, and while they led to no terrible disaster, they 
brought no glory. The nation was disgusted at the feeble conduct of Charles's 
Government as contrasted with the brilliant exploits of the admirals of Elizabeth. 



2So 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



a halting consent to the petition, but soon found means to 
evade it. In 1629, both parties were almost at swords' points. 
Charles dissolved his third Parliament in great fury. He flung 
Sir John Eliot, leader of the malcontents, a man of high ability 
and noble character, into the Tower of London and kept him 
in close durance till his death (1632). For eleven years Charles 
ruled without a Parliament and almost as an absolute monarch. 
157. The arbitrary rule of Charles (1629-39). " Be a king," 
Charles's French-born queen enjoined upon him. " Be like the 

King of France." Her 
husband made the 
attempt in direful 
earnest. He was able 
to strain the laws, to 
dispense with assem- 
bling Parliament, to 
harry the Puritans, as 
long as he had suffi- 
cient revenues to 
maintain his Govern- 
ment. l Fortunately 
for his subjects' sakes, 
he was without a real 
standing army, 2 and 
this kept him from 
going to extremes. But by enlarging to the uttermost every 
old claim of the Crown to revenue, and by the aid of servile 
judges, who always interpreted the law in the king's favor, 
Charles kept up his income without parliamentary grant. 3 The 

1 It was during this epoch that the Puritans migrated in thousands to Massa- 
chusetts, despairing of civil and religious liberty at home. 

2 The only armed force at the king's disposal in peace times was a small guard 
of yeomen. For larger levies he had to look to the militia raised in the counties. 

3 As it was, he was only able to go without Parliament by making peace with 
France and Spain, somewhat ignominiously: not a self-respecting action for an 
English king. 




SOLDIERS OF THE TIME OF CHARLES I 

Musketeer and pikeman 



THE EARLY STUARTS IN ENGLAND 281 

most famous straining of the law was the case of the ship- 
money, a war-tax hitherto levied only on the sea-board towns, 
but now imposed on the entire kingdom. Despite bitter pro- 
tests, the " Court of Exchequer" (rilled with judges after the 
king's own heart) decided that the new tax was legal. 1 

This attack by the king upon the pockets of his subjects 
alienated a vast multitude of merchants and country squires 
who took little interest in theoretical political rights or in 
religious difficulties. But Charles was already at bitter feud 
with the Puritans. A large fraction of the most intelligent and 
pious-minded men of the kingdom belonged to this party. Life 
was for them a serious reality to be lived in strict accord 
with the precepts of the Scriptures. The English Church still 
retained too many of the " corruptions of Rome " for their 
liking: they demanded a marked simplifying of the Church 
service, and likewise a corresponding severity in private life. 
The theaters 2 and the indecorous revels which were favored 
at the king's gay court shocked them unspeakably. In London 
and other cities, especially, the powerful mercantile class — 
the very people offended by the taxation — favored Puritanism. 
Charles thus had to confront enemies having both a financial 
and a religious grievance, — a most dangerous combination. 

In 1633, Charles made William Laud Archbishop of Canter- 
bury. Laud was a man of piety, purity, and zeal, but he was 
an uncompromising champion of the Church of England sys- 
tem, and a foe of the Puritans. Ministers who failed to conform 
to his advanced ideas for the enrichment of the Church ser- 
vice — "reaction toward Rome," cried his opponents — were 
ruthlessly thrust from their positions. The press was kept 

1 The right of the king was contested in a famous lawsuit brought by John 
Hampden, a distinguished Commoner. He lost the case, but the notoriety given 
to the royal policy was a heavy blow to the king's Government. 

2 The theaters of Charles I's time, sadly degenerated from the days of Shake- 
speare, were so frivolous and licentious as to deserve most of the anathemas the 
Puritans cast upon them. 



282 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

under strict censorship, and woe to the author and printer who 
issued an unlicensed volume. In 1633, William Prynne ven- 
tured to publish a volume assailing the morals of the theater. * 
It was distorted into an attack upon the character of the queen. 
The unfortunate writer was sentenced to have his book burned 
by the public hangman, to pay a fine of £5000^ and to have 
both ears cropped off in the pillory. Others, less conspicuous, 
suffered proportionately as much as he. Charles supported 
Laud in his anti-Puritan policy : Laud in turn was able to give 
the benison of religion upon all the king's political aggressions. 
As Charles's chief secular minister there came to the front 
Thomas Wentworth (after 1639 Lord Strafford), a statesman 
of remarkable ability, who honestly believed that he was ser- 
ving England best by putting her completely under the royal 
dominion. By means of their summary courts, the Star 
Chamber (to deal with secular offenses) and the High Com- 
mission (for Church cases), — tribunals which acted without 
a jury, and in a wholly arbitrary and semi-secret manner, — 
the king and his ministers were able to silence practically all 
the muttered opposition in England. A very large part of the 
population was disaffected, but without a Parliament in session 
the voice of the English people was dumb- — then Scotland 
furnished a means of expression. 

158. The revolt of the Scots. In 1637, Laud, not content 
with embittering the Puritans of England, undertook to force 
on the Presbyterian Church of Scotland a revised liturgy that 
enraged every patriotic son of the North who was proud of his 
national Church. 3 The day the new service was read in the 

1 The title of this very characteristic Puritan work is Histrio mastix, — the 
Player's Scourge. It arraigns stage plays as "the very pomp of the Devil." A 
huge, frigid, erudite, and utterly unreadable book. 

2 An enormous sum for those days. In 1637, for a second alleged offense, 
Prynne was ordered to have the "stumps of his ears" cut off, and to be sent into 
perpetual imprisonment. He was set free as soon as the Puritan revolution 
fairly began. 

3 Since James became King of England, Scotland had been governed by a 



THE EARLY STUARTS IN ENGLAND 283 

great church in Edinburgh, there was an angry tumult among 
the congregation. A serving-woman, Jane Geddes, flung her 
stool at the officiating clergyman. " Out, false thief! dost thou 
say mass at my lug [ear]! " she cried. It was an act that ex- 
pressed the feeling of a poor, but proud and belligerent nation. 
Vainly did Charles offer smooth words. Nobles and Commons 
of Scotland united in a solemn "Covenant" in defense of their 
beloved type of the Gospel, and in their Parliament declared 
Episcopacy abolished in the land. The next step was down- 
right armed rebellion against Charles's authority. The king 
had now a formidable war on his hands: and Charles's extrem- 
ity was the English Puritans' opportunity. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Gunpowder Plot; "King James Version"; Sir Walter 
Raleigh; "Divine Right of Kings "; Duke of Buckingham; Sir John 
Eliot; Petition of Right; Ship Money; Puritan; Thomas Wentworth; 
the Scottish Covenant. 

2. The character of James I. Compare with that of Elizabeth. 

3. Make a summary of James's policies under these heads — relations 
with the Puritans; relations with the Catholics; relations with foreign 
countries; relations with Parliament. How did these policies and their 
results affect (a) James's relations with his subjects, and (6) the way 
in which England was regarded by other nations. Compare James 
with Elizabeth in this respect. 

4. The character of Charles I. Compare with that of James I and with 
the character of the Tudors. 

5. What were the conditions which led to the granting of the "Petition 
of Right"? 

6. How did Charles obtain money during his period of arbitrary rule? 

7. The religious policy of Archbishop Laud. 

8. What circumstances led the Scotch to revolt? 

9. How did the Scotch revolt affect the situation in England? 

royal council, — nominally as an independent kingdom, — though subject, of 
course, to the orders of the absent sovereign. The Scots resented English inter- • 
ference profoundly, and were driven to frenzy by the least suggestion which 
"savored of Popery," as they claimed was the case with the English ("Episco- 
pal") service. 



284 HISTORY OF EUROPE 



EXERCISES 



i. By what right of descent did James I have a claim to the English 
throne? 

2. James I as king in Scotland before 1603. 

3. The Millenary Petition and the Hampton Court Conference. 

\. What were the " liberties of England"? What rights were disputed by 

James and Parliament? 
j. Compare the rights claimed by Parliament under the Stuart kings 

with the rights conceded to Parliament by Henry IV. 

6. Foreign relations under Charles I. 

7. The work of the Star Chamber and High Commission Courts under 
the Stuarts. 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 302-12. 

Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 387-93. An English history (Ransome, 
PP- 485-539)- 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND AND THE RULE 
OF CROMWELL 

159. The Scots and the " Short Parliament " (1640). 
Charles was in a sore strait. He could not raise an efficient 
army against the Scots without abundant money: he dared not 
wring more money from his English subjects lest they rise also 
in rebellion. The king scraped together a very inefficient and 
ill-paid force, but it was useless to lead it against the well- 
conducted Scots. Very reluctantly, then, Charles convoked 
an English Parliament, in the hope of securing authority for 
general taxation, but its spirit proved so intractable, he dis- 
solved it so speedily, that it has been forever known as the 
" Short Parliament." At his wits' end he solicited funds from 
Spain and even from the Pope, but gained nothing. His coffers 
were empty. His own army was hopelessly feeble and dis- 
affected. To keep the Scots from marching to London, he 
made a truce with them, agreeing to pay them a heavy sub- 
sidy until final peace was made. Only a Parliament could give 
him the money needful to appease the none too modest Scots. 
With a heavy heart, Charles again summoned his Lords and 
Commons. On November 3, 1640, the " Long Parliament " 
met at Westminster. It was the most famous Parliament in 
English history. 

160. The " Long Parliament " (1640-1660). The choice of 
the House of Commons of England was far from resting in 
those days with the peasantry and artisans: the most influen- 
tial factors were the country gentleman and the well-to-do 
merchant classes. These men were not revolutionists, and 
many had little sympathy with the Puritans. But they were 



286 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

enraged at the recent arbitrary rule; they resented the illegal' 
taxation; they saw in the religious changes of Laud a direct 
reaction toward Catholicism. They were strengthened in their 
task by the knowledge that behind them were the good wishes 
of the greater part of England, and that if the king resisted 
them, he was totally without funds for coping with the Scots. 
John Hampden, Sir Harry Vane, Denzill Hollis were among 
the mouthpieces for this party: but the great champion of 
parliamentary rights was John Pym, who has been described 
as an " intense conservative," but whose conservatism took 
the form not of preserving the rights of the Crown, but the 
rights of Parliament. To his mind, Parliament was absolute, 
and he was willing to trample on all things else to vindicate its 
power. He and his followers came to the assembly with a 
sweeping program of reforms. " They had now," said Pym, 
" an opportunity to make the country happy by removing all 
grievances, and pulling up the causes of them by the roots." 
They had not to wait long ere selecting an object for attack. 

161. The trial and death of Strafford (1641). In the former 
days Pym and Strafford had been friends and allies. Together 
they had opposed the arbitrary acts of the Crown in Charles's 
earlier Parliaments. Then Strafford had made his peace with 
the king, and heartily adopted the royal policy. Pym had 
remained in opposition, and he had never forgiven Strafford 
for what he considered his treason. The Parliamentary Party 
considered Strafford the heart and soul of the attempt at 
absolutism. They feared his iron will and merciless methods, 
and believed that in destroying him they would teach a lesson 
to royal ministers for all time. Strafford was speedily denounced 
by Pym in the Commons as an " apostate," who had become 
" the greatest enemy to the liberties of his country." Carried 
away by Pym's eloquence and by their own wrath and fears, 
the Commons hastily voted to impeach Strafford before the 
House of Lords, and he was forthwith cast into prison. 



288 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Strafford had been charged with high treason; but as a 
nobleman of England he was entitled to a fair trial before the 
Lords, and while it was easy enough to prove him guilty of 
unlawful and arbitrary acts, treason was in essence an attack 
upon the king, and the king had been only too well pleased 
with Strafford's policies. The accused man made a skillful 
defense, and it seemed possible that he might be acquitted. 
In that case he would soon be free and ready for desperate 
vengeance. Driven to bay, the Commons voted a Bill of 
Attainder 1 against him. The Lords hesitated to concur in this, 
but were presently brought to the Earl of Essex's mind, that 
" Stone dead hath no fellow." While the mob of London was 
clamoring for the fallen minister's life, the Lords passed the 
bill. The king had yet to sign it: he had promised Strafford he 
should not suffer in " life, honor, or fortune," but the mob 
threatened the palace. Charles feared for his wife and children. 
He signed the bill of attainder and his great minister perished. 
" Put not your trust in princes," said Strafford grimly at the 
end. 

162. The attack on the five members. Strafford was dead, 
Laud was imprisoned (to be executed four years later) ; for a 
moment the king seemed totally unable to resist the onslaught 
on his authority. The Courts of Star Chamber and of the 
High Commission had been abolished. Subservient judges 
were impeached and cast into prison. Ship-money and other 
improper methods of taxation were forbidden by law. Chief of 
all, for immediate purposes, the king had been compelled to 
assent to an act providing that the existing Parliament should 
not be dissolved without its own consent. He seemed deprived 

1 This declared a man a criminal without a trial, and ordered his prompt 
execution (see chapter xxi, section 139). It had been used by such rulers as 
Henry VIII to dispose of obnoxious subjects against whom they could not prove 
specific crimes. It is worthy of note that in their eagerness to remove a man they 
feared, the Commons did not shrink from highly drastic methods, as flagrant 
and unjustifiable as any of the royal prerogatives they were attacking. 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND 289 

of his last weapon, and the government of the country really 
taken out of his hands. As a matter of fact, however, Charles 
was somewhat biding his time, and the Parliamentarians were 
no longer able to unite on a further policy. Many thoughtful 
men, though willing to destroy Strafford and to attack various 
extreme abuses, refused to tie the hands of the king for the 
future, and especially to follow the Puritans, when in Parlia- 
ment they endeavored to abolish Episcopacy in the English 
Church in favor of a system more on the Presbyterian order. 
Several of Pym's former prominent supporters went over to 
the king's side, and the " Grand Remonstrance," a solemn 
protest in which all the ill-doings of the Crown were arraigned 
and remedies demanded, was passed in the Commons by a 
majority of only eleven. Under these conditions, early in 1642, 
the king attempted an awkward counter-stroke. 

The royal attorney-general attempted to accuse five promi- 
nent members of the Commons of high treason. 1 When the 
Commons showed no alacrity in ordering the arrest of these 
men, Charles committed the enormous blunder of entering 
the House of Commons in person, followed to the doorway 
by an armed band. The five had already fled away to their 
friends in London. Charles strode down the aisle into the 
House, as never for long a king had thrust himself, and 
demanded of the Speaker " Where they were." The other, 
falling on his knees, answered the king, " he had neither eyes 
to see, nor tongue to speak, but as the House was pleased to 
direct him." " I see the birds have flown," spoke the monarch, 
and walked out baffled, followed by the shouts of " Privilege! 
Privilege! " from the angry members. A great rising of the 
Londoners put any further attempt to arrest the five out of 
the question. After this act by Charles, it was only a question 
of months ere war should break out. On January 10, 1642, he 

1 They were Pym, Hampden, and three others. The main onus of the charges 
was conspiracy with the Scots against England. 



290 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



quitted London and began collecting forces in the North of 
England, while Parliament likewise recruited for the struggle. 
In August the royal standard was unfurled at Nottingham. 




THE BRITISH ISLES SINCE 1300 



163. The " Great Civil War " and the rise of Cromwell. In 
the civil war which followed the Parliament was supported by 
most of the wealthy eastern counties of England and by the 
great city of London (an invaluable financial assistance). The 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND 291 

king was sustained by most of the nobility, by the adherents 
of the Church of England generally, and by the bulk of the 
galloping and hunting race of the country gentry whose estates 
covered the western counties. The war lasted from 1642 to 
1647, l and was at first very unskillfully conducted by both 
sides. Charles made his seat at Oxford, rallied his adherents 
about him, and strove to force his way to London, where the 
Parliament, was directing the campaign against him. He had 
a dashing cavalry leader in his nephew, Prince Rupert ' k of the 
Rhine," 2 who, however, lacked the solid qualities of a great 
general. The Parliament's first commander-in-chief, the Earl 
of Essex, was little more than a brave mediocrity. 

The scales at first inclined in favor of the king, whose 
cavalry, composed of gallant country gentlemen, decidedly 
outmatched the Parliamentary horse recruited from none 
too martial townsmen. 3 But gradually the contest turned 
against Charles after an alliance had been made (1643) between 
the Parliament and the Scots, and the events of war had devel- 
oped that his enemies had in Oliver Cromwell, a squire of 
Huntingdon, a general of the very first order. Cromwell was 
the incarnation of Puritanism. The struggle was to him a holy 
war against " Prelacy," and its possible ally, " Popery." He 
charged into battle with a prayer and a psalm, as did the 
doughty " Ironsides " who composed his terrible mounted 
regiments. In 1644, he proved their might at the Parliamentary 
victory of Marston Moor; then finally at Naseby (June 14, 
1645) h e smote the royal army in a decisive battle. " God is 
our strength! " thundered the Puritans as they swept down on 
the Royalists. The victory was so complete that Cromwell 

1 The last serious fighting, however, was in 1645. 

2 He was the son of the unfortunate Elector Frederick of the Palatinate, who 
strove to seize the crown of Bohemia. 

3 The Royalists were popularly known in this contest as the "Cavaliers" — 
a sufficiently descriptive epithet. The Parliamentarians were styled "Round- 
heads," from the closely cropped hair of the London apprentices, their ardent 
partisans, as opposed to the long "love-locks" of their adversaries. 



292 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



reported the result as showing " none other but the hand of 
God." Charles held out after a fashion nearly two years longer, 
but he had no chance of success. In 1647, his best forces dis- 
persed, he took refuge with the army of the Scots, considering 
them the more pliable of his enemies. 

164. The triumph of the army and the death of the king. 
The confidence of Charles in his Northern subjects was mis- 
placed. On the payment of £40,000, al- 
ready due them as arrears for their help 
to Parliament, the Scots turned the king 
over to his victorious enemies. He was 
at first treated with consideration and an 
effort made to reach some accommoda- 
tion by which he could continue, at least, 
as the nominal sovereign of England. Un- 
fortunately the victors at London were 
now at odds among themselves. The ma- 
jority of Parliament was anxious to make 
Presbyterianism the state religion of Eng- 
land; but not so the army, where " In- 
dependent " l notions prevailed, and where 
all manner of strange Protestant sects 
found adherents. Cromwell himself stood 
firmly for tolerance within certain limits. 
"The State in choosing men to serve it," 
said he, " takes no notice of their opin- 
ions." When Parliament strove to disband the army without 
giving the pay which the soldiers felt they deserved, the troops 
seized the person of the king and forced certain leading Pres- 
byterians to quit the House. 

The Puritan army, whereof Cromwell was the guiding spirit, 
was now the real Government of England. In its councils of 

1 The "Independents" had closer affinities to the present-day " Congregation- 
alists" than to any other Protestant body. 




-■■w 



A LIGHT HORSEMAN OF 
CROMWELL'S DAY 
Showing equipment of 
an " Ironside." {From the 
collection of Captain Orde 
Browne) 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND 



293 



officers and men, assemblies that often partook more of the 
nature of great prayer-meetings than of military assemblies, 
the policy of the Government was shaped. An attempt of a 







THE TRIAL OF CHARLES I 



Scottish army now to interfere in Charles's behalf was crushed 
by Cromwell in the masterly battle of Preston (1648). But the 
Presbyterians still would not submit to " Independent " dic- 
tation. In November, 1648, the army entered London, and 
Colonel Pride with his guards proceeded to exclude one hun- 



2 9 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

dred and forty-three Presbyterian members from the House. 
After " Pride's Purge," the remnant of the Long Parliament, 
the " Rump," as it was called, was totally subservient to the 
army. 

The minds of Cromwell and his men were made up. Charles 
had refused all acceptable terms of accommodation. He had 
equivocated and balked, and intrigued to sow dissensions 
among his enemies. In his behalf much blood had been shed. 
The soldiers now demanded that " Charles Stuart, that man of 
blood," should perish. He was tried before an extraordinary 
commission, found guilty of levying war against his Parliament 
and people, and Tuesday, January 30, 1649, was executed in 
London. Historians still differ as to whether he was a great 
martyr or a great knave: probably he partook of both. 1 

165. The Commonwealth and the "Rump" Parliament 
(1649-53). England was now a " Commonwealth " with an 
avowedly republican form of government. The great majority 
of the people had not approved of the abolition of the monarchy. 
The unrepresentative "Rump" Parliament and the all power- 
ful army were hasting on from deed to deed far in advance of 
public opinion; but for the moment Cromwell and his fellows 
carried all before them. In 1650, the Scots undertook to crown 
Charles II (the eldest son of Charles I). Cromwell invaded their 
country and defeated them roundly at Dunbar; and later, 
when Charles II undertook to invade England from the north 
in 1651, Cromwell dispersed his forces with one great blow at 
Worcester. u It was a stiff business," wrote the victor, but it 
practically ended the civil wars. Amid many romantic adven- 
tures Charles II escaped to France. The distracted folk had 

1 Charles's immediate cause of shipwreck was his unwillingness to give a 
pledge, on which his enemies could rely, to govern with a Parliament and with 
officers practically chosen for him by the predominant Puritans. All Charles's 
public dealings seem stamped with insincerity and tortuousness. "His word was 
not the word of a king." At the end, however, he died with great firmness and 
dignity, displaying many noble traits of Christian character. 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND 295 



peace; and the " Rump " and the army were left to try to find 

a system of government which might prove acceptable to the 

land, and which should not rest merely on the sanction of 

armed force. The " Rump " was feeble, but pretentious, and 

presently fell out with its master, the chief of the " Ironsides," 

and undertook to pass a bill against which he and his officers 

had protested. On April 20, 1653, Cromwell came to the 

House, followed by his grim-faced musketeers. " I will put an 

end to your prating," he announced. 

"You are no Parliament! Begone! 

Give way to hones ter men! " " Put 

him out," he ordered, turning on the 

Speaker, and the soldiers hustled the 

members from the room. "This house 

is to be let, unfurnished," was the sign 

a Royalist wag affixed later on the door 

of the locked Parliament chamber. 

England had at length arrived at what 

was almost absolute monarchy. 

166. Cromwell, Lord Protector of 
England (1653-58). Cromwell was ab- 
solute monarch, thanks to the good 
will of the most formidable body in 
England, the Puritan army. Even his 

enemies confessed, however, that he was no imbecile or in- 
active ruler. As "Lord Protector," his administration was 
characterized by commercial prosperity and expansion, by 
colonial acquisitions, 1 by the development of efficient naval 
power, with attendant victories over Holland and Spain, and a 
most honorable alliance with France. At home he strove 
earnestly to put his power on a constitutional basis. Many of 
his Puritan followers were now thorough-going Republicans, 




PURITAN COSTUME 



1 Jamaica, especially, was taken from Spain. Cromwell laid the foundation of 
British colonial policy. 



2 9 6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

and refused to hear of a monarchy; yet the great majority 
were certainly wedded to most of the old institutions. Three 
times Cromwell convened Parliaments, but his own anomalous 
position and the attitude of the extreme Republicans who sat 
in them, made it impossible for him to work with them, and 
all these assemblies had to be somewhat hastily dissolved. 
Cromwell persisted, however, well convinced that God had 
summoned him to press for a final solution of the national 
difficulties. Probably, if he had lived ten years longer, he would 
have been able to disregard the Republican malcontents in the 
army and declare himself king. Could he have done so, the 
institutions of England would surely have been remade perma- 
nently, but in 1658 he died aged only fifty-nine. " A larger 
soul than his," said one who knew him, " hath seldom dwelt in 
this house of clay." 

167. The return of the Stuarts (1660). What the civil war 
accomplished. The events following the death of Oliver Crom- 
well can be soon told. He left his titles, but not his ability, to 
his weak son, Richard Cromwell. The hand of the master 
removed, the army officers were soon at bitter quarrel; and in 
1659, the remains of the " Rump " Parliament, as the only 
body still maintaining old legalities, were restored by the 
soldiers. The increasing dissensions led Richard Cromwell 
to resign his powers, and the situation became intolerably con- 
fused. With the great Oliver gone, and the army divided and 
less formidable, the voice of the nation could not be disregarded. 
Monk, the one general who gained a firm grasp on the situa- 
tion, enforced the calling of a " free Parliament," 1 which the 
whole population earnestly desired. In 1660, the " Conven- 
tion," 2 chosen in accordance with the general wishes, voted 
to summon Charles II, eldest son of the late king, back from 

1 No elections had been held for Parliament (except for Oliver's irregular 
Parliaments) since 1640. 

2 Since it was not summoned regularly by a king, it was legally a mere assem- 
bly, or "convention." 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND 297 

France, on condition of specious pledges of pardon for all the 
past, and of constitutional government in the future. 

The rule of the Puritans had collapsed with extreme rapidity. 
The " Saints " (as they styled themselves) had failed to estab- 
lish a Commonwealth on ultra-Protestant principles, because 
English public opinion had refused to follow them. The 
" Great Civil War," however, had not been fought in vain. 
Royalty had been taught an abiding lesson; and after a seem- 
ing reaction for the next generation nearly all that was really 
good in the movement which Pym and Cromwell had cham- 
pioned, became finally embodied in the laws and society of 
England. Indeed, it is not too much to say that it was Crom- 
well (despite many acts which seemed to savor of military 
absolutism) who really made toleration in religion possible and 
absolute government impossible in every English-speaking 
land. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — The Short Parliament; John Hampden; John Pym; Bill of 
Attainder; the Grand Remonstrance; Rupert of the Rhine; Cavaliers; 
Roundheads; Ironsides; Pride's Purge; Commonwealth; Protectorate; 
Richard Cromwell; General Monk. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Oxford; Marston Moor; Naseby; Preston; Dunbar; 
Worcester. 

(b) Indicate on the map the parts of England which stood by the 
king and those which stood by Parliament. 

3 . Summarize the events which led to the meeting of the Long Parlia- 
ment. 

4. What was the attitude of the leaders of the Long Parliament at first? 

5. What did the Commons hope to accomplish by the death of Strafford? 

6. What led to the division in the Parliamentary Party? What use did 
the king make of that division? 

7. Compare the resources of both sides in the war. 

8. What were the reasons for the triumph finally of the Parliamentary 
Party? 

9. What led to the disagreement between the army and Parliament? 
10. Was the execution of Charles I justifiable? Compare with the execu- 
tion of Mary Stuart. 



298 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

1 1 . Compare, as to causes and results, (a) the dissension in Parliament at 
the time of the Grand Remonstrance; (b) the dissension between the 
Parliament and the army after the king was taken prisoner; (c) the 
dissension between Cromwell and the "Rump" Parliament. 

12. The nature of Cromwell's rule. Upon what was his power based? 

13. What were the permanent results of the Puritan Revolution? 

EXERCISES 

1. Was the execution of Strafford justified? 

2. Were the relations of the "Five Members" with the Scotch army 
treasonable? 

3. Cromwell's "Ironsides." 

4. The Solemn League and Covenant. 

5. The Self-denying Ordinance. 

6. Why did the Scotch army "interfere in Charles's behalf "? 

7. The trial and execution of Charles I. Was he a martyr or a knave? 

8. The government under the Commonwealth. 

9. Cromwell in Ireland and the "Cromwellian Settlement." 

10. The battles of Dunbar and Worcester. 

11. Cromwell's foreign policy. What was England's position among the 
nations under his rule? 

12. The character of Cromwell. His services to England. 

13. The Declaration of Breda. 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. t,^3~ 2 3- 

Modem accounts. Seignobos: pp. 393-94. Gibbins: pp. 130-32, 138-41. 
An English history (Ransome, pp. 539-613). 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR IN GERMANY 

168. Origin of the great struggle. While England, France, 
and Holland had been engaged in their desperate grapple with 
Spain, Germany, the first home of the Protestants, rested in a 
state of calm. The Religious Peace of Augsburg (1555) seemed 
to have adjusted the relations of the two parties satisfactorily. 
The Emperor and many of the South German princes remained 
Catholic, while most of the free cities and the North German 
princes became Protestant. Down to about 1600 the peace was 
fairly well kept, and it might have lasted longer had each side 
been willing to keep strictly to the Augsburg agreement; but 
by that time new factors were coming into play which presently 
forced on Germany perhaps the most utterly cruel and de- 
structive war in modern history. 

On the Protestant side the leaders were totally unwilling to 
concede that only such states and cities as were included in the 
Peace of Augsburg were protected in the exercise of the new 
religion. Attempts were made, sometimes successfully, to 
turn other districts to Protestantism which had been Catholic 
in 1555; and there did not lack reckless politicians at the courts 
of the Lutheran and Calvinist 1 princes who urged open warfare 
to complete the extermination of Catholicism. 

On the other hand, the Catholics were taking the offensive: 
the Dukes of Bavaria and the various princes of the Hapsburg 
(Austrian) territories resorted to many acts of persecution 
against their numerous Protestant subjects; and the Protes- 

1 A good part of the Protestants of South Germany had adopted the tenets of 
Calvinism as opposed to Lutheranism. The differences were mainly as to the 
proper form of church government and as to the exact nature of the Lord's 
Supper. Between these two branches of Protestantism there was often only 
very cold charity. 



3 oo HISTORY OF EUROPE 

tants complained that encroachments were made upon their 
religious rights in districts protected by the Peace of Augsburg. 
The influential Jesuit Order, working at the Catholic courts, 
and equally intriguing opponents at the Protestant courts, 
kindled religious zeal and magnified grievances. By 1618, both 
parties were in a state of extreme distrust and ready to draw 
the sword: then came the final explosion in Bohemia. 

169. The Revolt of Bohemia against Austria (1618). 
Bohemia was a country ruled by the Catholic Hapsburg 
Emperors, but containing a restless nobility mainly Protestant. 
The opposition to the sway of the Emperor Mathias was 
partly national (dislike of having an Austrian reign in Bohemia), 
partly religious. The Protestants were exasperated by the 
entrusting of the actual government to a commission of 
Catholics; and they could allege various specific acts of perse- 
cution and oppression. On May 23, 1618, occurred the famous 
" throwing from the windows" at Prague, the Bohemian 
Capita 1 , when a band of insurgent noblemen cast three of the 
Emperor's administrators from one of the palace windows, 
seventy feet, into a ditch, whence they escaped with their 
lives as by miracle. After this act there was only desperate 
resistance open to the revolting Bohemians. They invited to 
their throne the Elector Frederick V of the Palatinate, 1 and 
boldly defied the Hapsburg to reconquer them. 

The Bohemian revolt was ill-conceived and ill-conducted. 
Many of its leaders did little credit to their religion. Frederick 
of the Palatinate was an amiable prince, but with no marked 
abilities. Mathias had been succeeded (16 19) by his cousin, 
Ferdinand II, an ardent Catholic, the protege of the Jesuits, 
who went into the war with the fervor of a crusader. No 
effective help came to the Bohemians, while the great Duke 
Maximilian of Bavaria put his forces at the disposal of Ferdi- 

1 He was the leading Protestant prince of South Germany, and son-in-law of 
James I of England, whence the Bohemians expected, though vainly, great help. 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR IN GERMANY 301 

nand. In 1620, at the battle of the White Hill (near Prague), 
Frederick of the Palatinate and the Bohemians were utterly 
crushed, and the victorious Ferdinand felt justified in practi- 
cally exterminating Protestantism in Bohemia. 

170. The appearance of Wallenstein. So far the war had 
been mainly Bohemian rather than German, but when the 
conquerors followed up their success by depriving Frederick 
of his electorate (to be given to Maximilian) and by punishing 
his German adherents, many North German Protestants took 
arms. To confront their formidable armies the Emperor 
accepted the services of Albert von Wallenstein, 1 a brilliant 
but unscrupulous and self-seeking general, who undertook to 
recruit an army which should live by the systematic plunder of 
the country and cost its imperial master next to nothing. For 
a moment the plan succeeded admirably; and almost all the 
loose spirits of Europe flocked to Wallenstein's camp. The 
German Protestants, who secured the alliance of King 
Christian IV of Denmark, were roundly defeated. Their lands 
were frightfully devastated by the swarms of human locusts 
Wallenstein led among them. By 1629, Christian IV had been 
forced to make peace, and the German Protestants seemed at 
the mercy of the Emperor. 

171. The Edict of Restitution (1629). Ferdinand's victory 
appeared almost complete : not merely could Protestantism be 
extirpated, but Germany could be made into a centralized 
monarchy something like Spain, subject to the arbitrary sway 
of the Emperor. In the confidence of the hour Ferdinand pub- 
lished the famous and ill-timed "Edict of Restitution," the 
sum whereof was that practically all the lands which the 
Protestants had taken possession of since 1555 should be 
restored to the Catholics; and that in the lands remaining to 
the Protestants only the Lutherans were to be allowed to exist. 

1 More properly Waldstein, but it is permissible to use his long accepted name. 
He was a Bohemian, born a Protestant, but reared as a Catholic. 



302 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

This edict drove to desperation the numerous Calvinists, and 
convinced many moderate Lutherans — who had held aloof 
from the earlier war — that their fate would come the next. 
The terrified Protestants looked anxiously abroad and made 
ready to welcome the first deliverer, who speedily came to 
hand in the person of Gustavus Adolphus, the great King of 
Sweden. 

172. Gustavus Adolphus in Germany (1630-32). Before 
the Swedes had landed in Pomerania, the Emperor had dis- 
missed his best general. Wallenstein had really cared little for 
the Catholic cause. He had been willing to increase Ferdi- 
nand's power, because in so doing he was increasing his own 
likewise, but the loyal Catholic princes and prince-bishops had 
been horrified at his aggressive self-seeking, and the marauding 
of his ill-disciplined soldiery, who often plundered friend and 
foe alike. 1 At the demand of his invaluable ally, Maximilian 
of Bavaria, Ferdinand dismissed his too-powerful officer, and 
disbanded a part of his army. 

In July, 1630, however, Gustavus Adolphus crossed the 
Baltic and entered Germany. He was the king of a compara- 
tively thinly settled and weak country, which had established 
its own type of Protestantism only after a bitter struggle; but 
Gustavus Adolphus was a remarkable combination of a reli- 
gious enthusiast and a great master of war. No doubt there 
was a political ambition which led him to seek to extend 
Swedish power south of the Baltic, but no doubt also he went 
on the campaign in a high belief that he was doing God and 
man a pure and devoted service. He had been schooled for 
action in a series of fierce campaigns with the Poles and Danes. 
He had evolved a new system of tactics based on rapid move- 
ments, and the adaptation of military formation to the fire- 
arms, which were replacing the pikes and lances whereon the 

1 It is said that many so-called Protestants served in Wallenstein's nondescript 
armies, and had their own chaplains, services, etc. 



3o 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

old style of warfare had been founded. His army was small, 
but excellently disciplined: a band of blond, blue-eyed giants, 
sons of the Vikings, pressing south in search, no doubt, of 
hard blows and booty, but also of a chance to fight for the 
" Evangelical Religion," which was to them the only true 
gospel. 

They came almost in the death-agony of German Protes- 
tantism. For a moment, such was the fear of the Imperialists, 
that hardly a city dared to open its gates voluntarily to Gus- 
tavus. The Lutheran princes hung back, cowed and anxious. 
The great city of Magdeburg, which had held out for the 
Protestants, was captured (1631) by the Imperialists, and 
subjected to a sack and massacre which smote fear of the 
Imperialists into every other Protestant town which had con- 
sidered following her example. But very foolishly the Emperor 
alienated the most powerful Protestant prince, Elector John 
George of Saxony, 1 who made alliance with Gustavus; and at 
last the time of the Swedes was come. October 17, 1 631, on the 
level plain of Breitenfeld, near Leipzig, Gustavus confronted 
Tilly (Wallenstein's successor in command of the Imperialists). 
If the battle of the White Hill had decided that Bohemia was 
not to remain Protestant, Breitenfeld decided that North 
Germany was not to become Catholic. Tilly drove the Saxons 
from the field, but the magnificent fighting of the Swedish 
cavalry turned the tide. The new tactics of Gustavus were 
totally successful. The night fell upon the wreck of the 
Imperialists flying in rout from one of the most decisive battle- 
fields of history. Breitenfeld was " the grave of the Edict of 
Restitution." 

Gustavus lived hardly a year after his victory. For the 
moment he carried all before him. He won back most of the 

1 The Elector of Saxony had striven hard to save his own debatable lands by 
an almost slavish alliance with Austria. Now in an ill-advised moment the 
Emperor strove to enforce the Edict of Restitution against him also. 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR IN GERMANY 305 

lands seized by the Imperialists in Central and South Germany. 
He defeated Tilly a second time and slew him at the Passage 
of the Lech (1632). Wallenstein was recalled to his command 
by the frightened Catholics and reassembled his army; he 
checked Gustavus before his fortified camp near Nuremberg; 
but matters were still in the balance when the war drifted back 
toward Saxony again. At Liitzen, 1 Gustavus attacked Wallen- 
stein and a long, desperate battle ensued. The issue was un- 
certain when Gustavus was slain in the fighting: his men, 
infuriated by the death of their beloved leader, pressed home 
the charge. Wallenstein was driven from the field. The glory 
was to the Swedes, but also the greater loss. They had other 
good officers, but no leader to replace the fallen hero. For two 
brief years Gustavus Adolphus plays a great part in history, 
then vanishes: but those two years were long enough to save 
German Protestantism. 

173. The fall of Wallenstein. In the lull following the battle, 
Wallenstein played boldly for his own hand. He knew that he 
was distrusted by the Imperialists, and he intrigued with the 
Swedes. A blind believer in " his star," it is not impossible 
that he might have found his advantage by joining the 
Protestants: but his officers were less pliable. Just when he 
was, it seems, on the edge of a great treason, he was murdered 
at Eger, by certain Irish and Scotch officers, 2 who put their 
duty to the Emperor above their pledges to their general (1634) . 

174. The French period of the war (1634-48). The death 
of Wallenstein ends the interesting period of the war. The 
religious motive had nearly gone out of it. All men recognized 
that the Protestants and Catholics were about certain to hold 
their own; but the hopes of territorial expansion still kept the 
Swedes in the field, and the Imperialists were unwilling to 

1 Like Breitenfeld, near Leipzig. 

2 Especially the Irish Butler, and the Scotch Gordon and Leslie. There were 
many Scotch and Irish serving in European armies at this period. 



3 o6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

confess that their attempt to crush " heresy " in Germany had 
failed. And at this point the unhappy Germans were beset by 
a new horde of invaders — the French. 

To the brilliant prime minister of Louis XIII, the mighty 
Cardinal Richelieu, the distractions of Germany presented an 
admirable opportunity for the seizure of territory by France 
and the humiliation of her old rivals of the House of Austria. 
Although France was Catholic, Richelieu did not hesitate to 
make alliance with the Swedes, 1 and while the armies of the 
skillful generals trained by Gustavus harried from the north, 
the French armies were dashed upon South Germany across 
the Rhine. In this last era of the war, deadly, cruel, and 
devastating, religious differences were largely lost from sight. 
Many Protestant states, e.g., Saxony, had made their peace 
with Austria. The war swayed back and forth, mostly in 
Central and South Germany, in numberless battles, usually 
indecisive but none the less bloody. The Franco-Swedish allies 
were fighting for territorial gain: the Austrians, not to crush 
Protestantism, but to preserve intact their dominions. At last 
the allies gained such advantages that the pride of the Austrian 
Hapsburgs was humbled. Ferdinand III (1637-57), wno na d 
succeeded his father Ferdinand II, consented to peace. After 
nigh interminable delays a congress of ambassadors signed 
the Peace of Westphalia, which gave rest to a weary land. 

175. The Peace of Westphalia (1648). The Treaty of 
Westphalia was a memorable document. Austria and the 
Catholic Powers solemnly recognized the rights of all Protes- 
tant states which had preserved their independence up to 
1624 ; 2 and the states of both religions were put on absolute 

1 After the death of Gustavus, the real ruler of Sweden was the able chancellor 
Oxenstierna, who ruled for the late king's infant daughter, Queen Christina: 
some of the Swedish commanders, e.g., Torstenson, were highly capable soldiers, 
but they lacked the nobility of character which had sent their great sovereign 
upon his crusade. 

2 This saved most of the Protestants of South Germany, but assented to 




GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS 

King of Sweden (1611-32) 
Born 1594 Died 1632 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR IN GERMANY 307 



equality in all the affairs of that very shadowy federation still 
called the " Holy Roman Empire." A new electorate (an 
eighth) was created in the Lower Palatinate (a Rhine district) 
for the heirs of that unlucky Elector Frederick of the Palatin- 
ate, who had been evicted from his lands in favor of Bavaria: 
France was given a strip 
of territory -in Alsace 
along the Rhine, Swe- 
den a large portion of 
Pomerania. The vari- 
ous German states, 
large and small, were 
confirmed in their local 
" rights" in so ample a 
manner that they prac- 
tically became indepen- 
dent nations in all but 
name, with only the 
most nominal overlord- 
ship by the Emperor. 
For political purposes, 
then, the Peace of West- 
phalia marks (1) the 
practical, though not 
the confessed, end of 
the mediaeval " Empire," founded by Charlemagne and the 
Ottos; (2) the admission of Protestants to the councils of 
Europe, and, therefore, the termination of most of the religious 
wars. But the peace also brought a most longed-for respite to 
Germany. The war had been unspeakably devastating. The 
average army had lived by the grossest forms of plunder. For 
nearly a generation the unhappy land had almost forgotten 

their suppression in Austria and Bohemia. — 'By this treaty also Spain now form- 
ally admitted the independence of Holland. 




A PLUNDERING SOLDIER — PERIOD OF THE 
THIRTY YEARS' WAR 

{From a woodcut by Ammann, reproduced in Liebe, 
Der Soldat) 



3 o8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

what normal peace conditions were. Population had declined 
terribly. 1 The arts of peace, learning, all forms of civilized life 
were half forgotten; some trades actually disappeared. In 
1600, Germany was among the most prosperous countries in 
Europe. In 1650, it was infinitely outstripped by France, and 
barely by 1848 had it recovered all the ground lost in one of 
the most brutal and destructive wars in history. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Bohemia; the Elector Palatine (Frederick V) ; Battle of the 
White Hill; Ferdinand II; Wallenstein; Tilly; Liitzen; Oxenstierna. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Augsburg; Prague; Magdeburg; Breitenfeld; Nurem- 
berg; Liitzen. 

(b) Indicate the territorial changes made by the Peace of West- 
phalia. 

3. What were the conditions in Germany which tended to bring on a 
war? 

4. Why did the revolt in Bohemia result in further warfare? 

5. What circumstances encouraged the Emperor to issue the Edict of 
Restitution? What were its terms? 

6. Why did Gustavus Adolphus join in the war? 

7. Breitenfeld and its importance. 

8. Compare Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein as to motives, char- 
acter, ability as generals, and work accomplished. 

9. What was the character of the war after the fall of Wallenstein? Who 
profited most by the continuation of the war? 

10. The provisions of the Peace of Westphalia. Compare with those of 
the Religious Peace of Augsburg. 

11. Compare the effects of the war on Germany with the effects of the 
Hundred Years' War on France. 

EXERCISES 

1. Why did not James I of England send efficient help to the German 
Protestants? 

2. Wallenstein's armies. 

1 Famine had followed devastation. There were well-authenticated cases of 
cannibalism. It is asserted that the population of Germany was 17,000,000 when 
the war began, only 4,000,000 when it ended; though possibly this is an over- 
statement. In certain districts it was actually proposed that every man should 
be required to marry two wives to care for the unprotected women. 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR IN GERMANY 309 

3. The sack of Magdeburg. 

4. The tactics of Gustavus Adolphus at the passage of the Lech River. 

5. Richelieu's part in the Thirty Years' War. 

6. The Treaty of Westphalia. Would Philip II of Spain have made such 
a treaty had he been Emperor? 

7. What were the provisions in the treaty concerning the Netherlands, 
and the Swiss Cantons? 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 292-301. 

Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 369-85. Lewis: pp. 399-455. Duruy: 

pp. 399-402. Pattison: pp. 274-300. Lodge: chapter x. Gibbins: pp. 

153-55- 



CHAPTER XXVI 

LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 

176. The greatness of France in 1661. The conclusion of 
the Thirty Years' War left France undoubtedly the first power 
of Europe. The commanding position of its king is best summed 
up in the statement that he, without an ally, could dare to 
attack any power he desired, but that no foreign power, even 
with an ally, could venture to attack him. The military and 
economic resources of the populous, industrious, warlike, and 
intelligent French nation had been concentrated under the 
royal power as never before, thanks to the abilities of two 
great prime ministers (churchmen only in name), the Cardi- 
nals Richelieu (in power 1624-42) 1 and Mazarin (1643-61). 

1 Richelieu, who is counted one of the prime builders of the absolute monarchy 
in France, was born of a noble but not wealthy house in 1585. He entered the 
Church in order to "keep in the family" the Bishopric of Lucon, and he was 
consecrated bishop when only twenty-two. He soon became a valuable assistant 
to Queen Marie de' Medici, who had become regent for her young son, Louis 
XIII, after the murder of his father, Henry IV (1610). But for a long time the 
queen mother and the young king were dominated by unworthy favorites and 
selfish court factions, and it was not till 1624 that Richelieu's high abilities were 
recognized and he became a prominent minister in the Government. He was 
already a cardinal: now he speedily became indispensable to the king, and 
remained "First Minister" down to his death (1642). 

Richelieu was filled with truly patriotic desire to aggrandize France, but 
" France " for him meant simply the military power of the monarchy. To achieve 
his end, he waged unremitting war against the "hereditary enemies" of his 
master, the Hapsburgs of Austria and Spain; at first supporting Gustavus 
Adolphus and the German Protestants against them, and then, after 1635, send- 
ing large French armies directly into Germany. At home he had to deal with the 
Huguenots, who were using the privileges given them by the Edict of Nantes 
to defy the royal authority; and also to curb the unruly temper of the great 
French nobles, who still retained much of their feudal insolence. In 1628, 
Richelieu took La Rochelle, the Huguenot stronghold, and deprived the French 
Protestants of their political privileges, although leaving them due exercise of 
their religion. Against the great nobles he acted with iron severity. Many con- 
spiracies were formed against him, but almost all the promoters thereof paid 
for their daring on the scaffold. 



LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 311 

Through many tumultuous scenes, in the face of bitter court 
intrigues and even civil war (1648-53), the elements hostile to 
the crown — turbulent nobles, Huguenots using their religious 
quarrel for political ends, and stubborn lawyer magnates who 
controlled the high courts of the kingdom — had all been 
beaten down. France was submissive to her kings as never 
before. 

Outside of his frontiers the French monarch had no rival. 
Spain was sinking into a lethargy and decadence which made 
absurd its old claim as " first power of Europe," despite the 
fact that its empire still embraced wide dominions. Austria, 
the standing rival of France, was weakened and humiliated by 
the result of the Thirty Years' War. The lesser German states 
were still demoralized by that terrible struggle. The Republic 
of Holland and the Kingdom of England might overmatch the 
French navy, but neither was formidable by land. A great army, 
a well-filled treasury, a rich, loyal, and extensive land were all 
at the disposal of Louis XIV, when, after the king's long minor- 
ity and tutelage, his great minister, Mazarin, died. Louis was 
not the man to fail to appreciate his enormous power. 

177. Louis XIV (1643-1715): his absolute government and 
his court. Louis XIV was a very fallible man, but he was 

When Richelieu died, the royal power seemed dominant at home and victorious 
abroad. The cardinal had gone on his way with pitiless thoroughness. He had 
taxed the commonalty mercilessly, and had never let the laws of humanity or 
morality swerve him from a profitable course of intrigue or war. His death, 
however, postponed the complete triumph of absolutism in France for over a 
decade. He was succeeded as "First Minister" by his confidant, Cardinal 
Mazarin, a supple Italian, who, though not without large abilities as a smooth 
intriguer, lacked his master's genius. Mazarin was hated as a foreigner, and the 
Queen Regent, Anne of i\.ustria (acting for young Louis XIV), though decidedly 
under his influence, did not support him capably. The nobility and the dis- 
affected citizens of Paris again raised their heads. Spain aided the insurgents 
with armies. Between 1648 and 1653, France was racked by the so-called "Wars 
of the Fronde." Then the ill-considered insurrection dwindled away. Mazarin 
took up the work of Richelieu, — the organizing of France into one closely 
centralized despotic monarchy. This work was largely completed when he died 
in 1661, and turned the government and its polities over to his royal pupil, 
Louis XIV. 



3 I2 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



undoubtedly a mighty monarch. He was of great personal 
dignity: " he was as majestic in his dressing-gown as when 
dressed in robes of state, or on horseback at the head of his 
troops." He looked the part of a great potentate, and took his 
position very seriously. He had much intelligence, a ready 




LOUIS XIV, SURROUNDED BY HIS COURT, CONFERRING THE BATON OF 
" MARSHAL OF FRANCE," THE HIGHEST MILITARY HONOR 

{From a contemporary almanac) 

courtesy, and knew when to unbend. When he believed his 
prerogatives were not trenched upon, he was capable of much 
kindliness. Unluckily, however, he was the vainest of mortals, 
and never did great king lack for a swarm of flatterers. Church- 
men and courtiers alike had taught him from his youth that 
kings were anointed of God; for their actions they were 
accountable solely to heaven; their subjects could only obey 



LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 313 

with diligence. " Majesty is the image of the grandeur of God 
in the prince," wrote Bossuet, a famous French prelate. 
Louis, at best of very mortal stuff, was readily convinced by 
such declarations. Throughout nearly his whole life he treated 
the weal of France as synonymous with his own ambition 
to extend his frontiers and play the conqueror. Anything like 
popular liberties he regarded as a calamity. The example of 
Puritan England was ever before him, and the saying is 
attributed to him that a Parliament like the English was an 
intolerable evil for any real monarch. If, indeed, he never 
used the famous expression, " I am the state " (so often 
ascribed to him), it represents his whole attitude completely. 

Very early in his reign he strode, in his hunting costume, 
before the Parlement de Paris, 1 which was hesitating over 
" registering " (i.e., putting into effect) one of his edicts, and 
announced, " I have learned that you intend to continue these 
meetings [to discuss my measures]. I have come here expressly 
to forbid the continuation of them." And the king was obeyed. 

The once haughty nobility of France no longer ruled, each 
on his feudal seigneury. They were on the frontiers, in the 
king's powerful armies, or in perpetual attendance at the 
splendid royal court. Shorn now of all real political power, 
they found recompense in the absurdly elaborate and artificial 
ceremonial of the household service of their master. The mere 
process of the king's arising from bed was a great state func- 
tion: it was a high honor to be allowed to watch him breakfast: 
a higher glory still to enter his bedroom and to behold him put 
on his shirt. The favor of the king meant everything, — office, 
promotions, pensions. 

At Versailles, near Paris, Louis built him a palace and magni- 
ficent gardens surpassing anything the world had seen since 

1 The Parlement de Paris was the highest court of France, and was really 
strictly a legal body: yet it claimed certain political rights, and was the last real 
check upon royal authority. It had nothing in common with the English 
"Parliament." 



3 i4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

the passing of the Roman Caesars. Fifty millions of dollars, 
wrung from the taxpayers of the land, went into this vast 
monument of vanity and selfishness: " in which France no- 
where appears, but only the king." 

If, however, Louis had contented himself with mere palace 
building, his subjects would not have complained bitterly. 
Down to 1683, n i s money affairs were controlled by Colbert, 
one of the greatest finance ministers who ever held a portfolio. 
Not merely were the royal revenues put in excellent order, but 
energetic and successful attempts were made to develop the 
commerce and industry of France, to build a formidable navy, 
and to develop colonies in Canada and India. The first decades 
of Louis were a period of great prosperity for France, a nation 
which has always displayed remarkable powers of recuperation 
and expansion under good government. In 1683, however, 
Colbert died. He left no real successor; and Louis XIV was 
already involved in foreign projects which were to ruin his 
treasury and alienate his subjects. 

178. The persecution of the Huguenots. Richelieu had 
deprived the Huguenots of the particular political privileges 
which they had won from Henry IV, but they still kept religious 
toleration. The great nobles, who for temporal reasons had 
once embraced Calvinism, had now mostly fallen away, but 
there were still a million Protestants, and these Louis regarded 
with no friendly eye. He was himself a fairly devout Catholic, 
and was doubtless sincere in his action; yet it was probably 
the fact that he wished to have all his subjects conform to his 
views on all matters, rather than any burning religious zeal, 
which made him turn persecutor. 1 The Protestants were now 
mostly middle-class townspeople, merchants and artisans, the 
very class of the population most useful for the economic weal 
of France. 

1 Louis XIV, like Philip II, was often on very bad terms with the Pope, 
treating him (in secular matters) in a very bullying and offensive manner. 



LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 315 

Various half-measures were at first used to secure conver- 
sions to the older religion. Catholic preachers labored among 
the Protestants with various success. The over-zealous war- 
minister, Louvois, was allowed to " dragoon" the hesitant by 
means of the army. 1 Finally, the last blow was struck; in 1685, 
the Edict of Nantes (securing religious toleration to the 
Protestants) was repealed. a No Protestant could meet for 
any worship. All their ministers were banished from the king- 
dom within fifteen days; but their laity were forbidden to 
follow them under penalty of confiscation of goods and pain 
of the galleys." 2 

Whether Louis ever understood the full unwisdom of his act 
is unknown; 3 yet it was a deed of extreme folly. Despite dread- 
ful persecution, several hundreds of thousands of Protestants 
remained in France, and kept their religion; and despite the 
laws, nearly 300,000 of them fled to England, Germany, and 
America, carrying with them the peaceful arts which were so 
needed by their native land. By this blow to a valuable part 
of her peaceful population, the industry and commerce of 
France were demoralized, at a time when the foreign policy 
of Louis was making necessary the wealth of all his subjects. 

179. The wars of Louis XIV. But that which really made 
the reign of Louis XIV fatal for France was his series of wars. 
From 1660 down to 1667 was a period of peace; then the ambi- 
tious king began a series of campaigns directed against the 
power of Austria and Holland, and particularly against the 
dying Empire of Spain. 4 Especially he strove to enlarge his 

1 The term "dragooning" (dragonnade) arose from the practice of quartering 
a squad of brutal soldiers upon the family it was desired to coerce. 

2 So the terms of Louis's act are summarized by Duruy, a moderate Catholic 
writer. 

3 Most of the king's leading statesmen and courtiers honestly commended 
his action. " Nothing could be finer: no king ever did, or ever will do, anything 
so memorable," wrote Madame de Sevigne, one of the first literary figures of the 
time. 

4 It is curious to observe that in these wars, Holland and Spain (old enemies) 
are now firm allies against the common menace of France. 



3 i6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

dominions along the Rhine and in Flanders. With an army 
of 350,000 men, with a navy which almost matched that of 
England or Holland, with two very able generals (Conde and 
Turenne) to lead his forces, Louis felt justified in a series of 
aggressions which really had only his own selfish ambition to 
justify them, despite much fine talk concerning " the glory of 
France." 

In his first war (1667-68) he tore from Spain a considerable 
part of her territories in Flanders. His second war was directed 
against Holland (1672-79). Louis had actually forced his way 
close to the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, and was proposing to 
reduce the Dutch Republic to abject vassalage, when his 
desperate enemies cut the dikes, and the French retired before 
the flood. In 1679, Louis made peace with the powers allied 
against him, and Spain again suffered — being despoiled of 
Franche-Comte. 

But Louis had now raised against him an inveterate enemy. 
William of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland, 1 assumed the task 
of welding Europe together against the overweening power of 
France. William was not a remarkable general, nor a flawless 
statesman, but he was a leader of dauntless courage, who never 
confessed defeat. Thanks to his success (1689) in securing the 
crown of England, 2 which now became the firm ally of Austria, 
Spain, and Holland, in Louis's third great war (1688-97), 
France had to fight England also, and the English navy turned 
the scale. Louis could wring out of his sorely strained kingdom 
sufficient strength to fight all Europe by land, but not enough 
also to match the English sea-power, which had been constantly 
growing. The land fighting along the Rhine and in Flanders 
was bloody, devastating, and indecisive. In 1692, the great 
battle of La Hogue almost broke the naval strength of France. 
Peace came in 1697 (Treaty of Ryswick), with practically no 

1 He was the descendant, of the great William the Silent, the foe of Philip II. 

2 See chapter xxvn, section 189. 



LOUIS XIV, DOMIXATOR OF EUROPE 317 

new conquests for Louis. 1 His best generals were dead, his 
armies depleted, his treasury drained, his sorely taxed subjects 
murmuring. Wisdom should have taught him that France 
could not conquer Europe, and that the rest of his reign should 
be one of peace. 

180. The siege of Vienna by the Turks (1683). One factor 
which earlier aided Louis XIV was the terrible peril which 
threatened his Austrian enemies from the rear. The Turkish 
Empire was falling into weakness and disorder, but it was still 
a menace to the Austrians, and the sultan's redoubtable 
" Bashi-bazonks" [light cavalry] and Janizaries threatened to 
seize all Hungary. In 1683, all Christendom trembled when 
the grand vizier, Kara Mustapha, laid siege to Vienna with 
a horde of 150,000 Orientals. The Christian capital was hard- 
pressed. The fortifications were old; the garrison only 14,000. 
But Count Stahremberg, the commandant, held out gallantly, 
awaiting succor. For nearly two months the fate of Vienna 
hung in the balance. Then, when the crumbling defenses 
seemed about to succumb, the besieging host was handsomely 
routed by the relieving force led by John Sobieski, King of 
Poland. " There was a man sent from God whose name was 
John! " quoted the court preacher, in the thanksgiving service 
after the victory. From this day the Turkish power waned. 
Never again was it a danger to western Europe outside of the 
Balkan Peninsula. 

181. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13). Late 
in his life Louis XIV foolishly embarked again on a great war. 
The King of Spain, Charles II, had died without direct heirs. 
Rather than see his empire parceled out amongst several dis- 
tant claimants, he left his whole dominions to Philip, the sec- 
ond son of the French dauphin. 2 In defiance of his pledges to 

1 The treaty, however, allowed him to keep the German free city of Strass- 
burg, which he had seized during a time of nominal peace (1681) with barely a 
shadow of justification. 

2 Charles II had, of course, no great love for his old enemy, France, but the 



EUROPE IN 1715. 

I I Lands added to France by the 
Treaty of Westphalia. 

1 I Lands added to Sweden by 
same Treaty. 

I I Lands added to Brandenburg- 
Prussia by same Treaty. 
Boundaries of the Empire 

In 171 5.MIM1MIMIMIW 

I [Venetian 

lands, 1715. 

Artois, Tranche 
Comteand Kous- 
sillon were ad- 
ded to France 
between 1048- 
1715. 




longitude 5 ° West *Vom Gr 



Longitude East 



from Greenwich 10 



318 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

England, Austria, and Holland, Louis undertook to maintain 
this French prince on the throne of Spain. The result was the 
most disastrous war of his long reign. Louis had no competent 
generals left, nor any great ministers. At Blenheim (Bavaria, 
1704), Marlborough, 1 the English leader of the allies, defeated 
the French utterly. In 1706, he smote them again at Ramillies 
(Brabant). France itself at length was invaded, and, after still 
more defeats, Louis's pride humbled in the dust. 

Peace came at last in 17 13 (Treaty of Utrecht). The French- 
born Philip (V of Spain) kept the Spanish throne, but under 
conditions that insured the perpetual independence of Spain 
from France. Most of the possessions which Spain held in Italy, 
together with the Spanish Netherlands, were handed over to 
Austria. England gained from Spain the Rock of Gibraltar, 
which she holds to this day, and from France, Nova Scotia, 
Newfoundland, and the Hudson Bay Country in America. 

The wars of Louis XIV had ended in pronounced failure. 

182. The effect of the example of Louis XIV: his end ( 1715). 
The example of Louis XIV was disastrous for Europe. Even 
the princes (e.g., of Germany) who fought him most bitterly 
saw in him their ideal : a monarch who trampled upon the old 
liberties of his subjects, who exploited the public resources to 
build up a magnificent court, who claimed to rule by " divine 
right," and who made war for the gratification of his personal 
glory and ambition. The wars of the Reformation period were 
at least fought by men who were genuinely in earnest, and who 
believed they were fighting for noble principles. The wars of 
Louis XIV were wholly avoidable: were usually the results of 

alternative was to see several other claimants — especially Austria — divide his 
dominions. What made Louis's action in accepting the Spanish crown in behalf 
of his grandson especially obnoxious was the fact that he had made a solemn 
treaty with England and Austria promising the Spanish homeland and the 
Spanish Netherlands to an Austrian prince, though France was to have Lorraine. 
1 Marlborough was a wonderful general, and his strategic methods mark an 
epoch in the history of warfare. It is said that he never besieged a town which 
he did not take, nor fought a battle which he did not win. 



LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 319 

mere dynastic covetousness; and after causing infinite misery 
they really left the frontiers of France little changed. 1 

Nearly every princelet of Germany — perhaps with a terri- 
tory so small that a cannon ball could cross from boundary to 
boundary — must have his palace (a miniature Versailles) , 
a costly and self-important court, and a handful of inefficient 
soldiers, — his " standing army," — all paid for, of course, 
by the wretched peasants, his subjects. It took nearly a 
century for monarchical Europe to recover from the spell cast 
over it by " Le Grand Monarque," as the French, even amid 
their grumblings, delighted to style their masterful king. 

And yet Louis was as much the victim of the conditions of 
royalty in which he was placed as the deliberate champion of 
despotism. He had a high and genuine desire to advance the 
weal of his people, and never shirked the tedious hours in the 
cabinet supervising the work of his ministers. " We ought to 
consider the good of our subjects more than our own " (he 
asserted) ; " and it is a fine thing to deserve from them the name 
of ' father ' as well as ' master.' " Unfortunately, his surround- 
ings rendered him purblind to the fact that the last things his 
subjects needed were disastrous wars, which ruined their com- 
merce and doubled their taxes, drained France of her youth, 
yet added comparatively little to her boundaries. 

When he died in 1715, the public debt of France was over 
$48o,ooo,ooo, 2 and the treasury was all but empty. Commerce 
was stagnant. The salaries of officials had been long in arrears. 
Even the high nobles were in debt, while the peasantry were 
in sorest need. Much of the land lay uninhabited and fallow. 

Louis XIV himself pronounced a true criticism upon his own 
reign, when he lay upon his deathbed, and his great-grandson, 
a mere boy of five (Louis XV), the heir to his power, was led 

1 Of course, as a net result of Louis's aggressions France did retain some 
possessions toward the Rhine (Franche-Comte, Strassburg, etc.), but at a 
tremendous price. 

2 Of course, the equivalent of a far greater sum to-day. 



3 2o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

before him. " Try," spoke the dying monarch, " to keep peace 
with your neighbors: I have been too fond of war. Do not imi- 
tate me in that, nor in my over-great expenditure." His per- 
sonality and power had dominated Europe for nearly two 
thirds of a century, and in him ''monarchy by divine right" 
reached its climax. 

Louis XV did not profit by his admonitions: and Louis XVI, 
his successor in turn, was beheaded in the French Revolution. 

REVIEW 

i. Topics — Parlement de Paris; Versailles; Colbert; Dragonnades; 
Edict of Nantes; Kara Mustapha; John Sobieski; Marlborough; War 
of the Spanish Succession. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Versailles; Amsterdam; La Hogue; Vienna; Strassburg; 
Blenheim; Utrecht; Gibraltar. 

(b) Mark the territories added to France under Louis XIV. 

(c) Mark the boundaries of the European nations after the Treaty 
of Utrecht. 

3. The conditions in France in 1661. Compare with those in the other 
European states. 

4. Compare Louis XIV with James I and Charles I as to their ideas of 
government. Why was absolute government possible in France and 
impossible in England? 

5. What led to the repeal of the Edict of Nantes? What were the politi- 
cal results of the repeal? The economic results? 

6. Learn the provisions of the Treaty of Utrecht. 

7. Compare France in 17 15 with France in 166 1. Was Louis XIV wholly 
to blame for the evil conditions in 1715? 

EXERCISES 

1 . Richelieu and Mazarin — compare them in character and work 
accomplished. 

2. The court of Louis XIV. 

3. Colbert, and French colonization in America. 

4. Vauban, Conde, and Turenne. 

5. What had been the relations between Francis I and the Turks? 

6. The battle of Blenheim. Why is it one of the "decisive battles"? 

7. The career of Marlborough. 



LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 321 

8. Find illustrations of the statement concerning the evil effects of the 
influence of Louis XIV upon other European states. 

9. Taxation under Louis XIV. 

10. How did the revocation of the Edict of Nantes affect the foreign 
relations of Louis XIV? 

1 1 . The culture of the eighteenth century. 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 332-45, 353. 

Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 345-86, 402-05, 410-33. Duruy: pp. 
385-475. Pattison: pp. 301-28. Lodge: chapters xi, xn, xiii. Gibbins: 
pp. 113-14, 132-33, 159-60. Robinson and Beard: vol. 1, pp. 4-28; 
34-50- 



CHAPTER XXVII 

THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND AND THEIR OVERTHROW 

183. Charles II, "The Merry Monarch" (1660-85). The 

sovereign whom the English recalled was a person of no mean 
capacity. He was an abler man than his father, Charles I; 
he was more worldly-wise than his grandfather, James I. He 
had much personal grace and good humor, and an easy-going 
manner which enabled him to manipulate men to his own ends. 
He had not enjoyed his life as an exile on the Continent, and 
returned to England firmly resolved "never to set out on his 
travels again." No cause was likely to find in him a martyr, 
but, on the other hand, he was quite willing to assert his power 
so far as appeared safe. The nation, wearied of Puritanism, 
welcomed a monarch who had no morality but one of pleasure, 
and who threw his court and his people into an eager attempt 
to restore color to life. Charles's private habits were those of 
an elegant debauchee. He surrounded himself with scandalous 
courtiers and a crowd of mistresses. French influence was 
immediately visible in the drama and letters of the day, while 
concrete proof of its existence was the pension which Louis 
XIV paid to Charles for several years of his reign, receiving in 
return the virtual disposal of England's foreign policy. He 
had so little genuine religion that, although he seems for long 
to have really believed in Roman Catholicism, he never lifted 
a ringer effectively to protect his fellow believers from severe 
persecution during many years; and only upon his deathbed 
professed the religion that he really held. Under such a mon- 
arch England was destined to submit to a distinct lapse from 
the proud position among the nations which she had held under 
Cromwell. 



THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND 



323 



184. The persecution of the Puritans and the Catholics. 

The return of the Royalists had meant the wiping-off of old 
scores accumulated by the friends of the Episcopal system 









7J ~ 




DINNER AT THE COURT OF CHARLES II 
Note that royalty always dined under a canopy, one of the most cherished of royal 
honors. {From an engraving in the Print Department of the Bibliotheque Nationale) 

(whose worship had been banned under the Protectorate) 
against their Puritan enemies. Not merely, in the reaction 
from the austere Cromwellian regime, were the Puritan divines 
driven from their pulpits, 1 but their private religious gatherings 

1 Two thousand ministers, and those not the least learned or devoutly minded, 
were forced to quit their churches in 1662, rather than take the required oaths 
pledging them to accept the rule of bishops and the Church of England Prayer- 
Book. Hitherto many of the Puritans had tried to effect reforms from within 
the English Church: now they deliberately placed themselves outside the Church 
and organized various "Nonconformist" churches, which remain to this day. 
Probably Charles's efforts in behalf of the Nonconformists were simply to cover 
up designs to aid the Catholics. 



3 2 4 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



were forbidden. Under the laws of the " Clarendon Code," 
not more than five persons besides the members of a household 
might be present at any Puritan prayer-meeting, nor might 
any of their ministers approach within five miles of an incor- 
porated town. 

Charles by no means approved of his Parliament's furious 
zeal for the religion in which his father had died. He made 
various ineffective efforts to lighten the lot of the " Non- 
conformists " (as the Puritans were called), and he was natu- 
rally still more anxious to relieve the disabilities of the Catho- 
lics, but on these points he met with stubborn resistance. The 
Church of England party, ultra-loyal in its professions, and 
controlling his Parliaments, was even more anti-Catholic than 
it was anti-Puritan; and a large fraction of it presently came to 

regard the king's policies with 
extreme suspicion. Charles was 
without a legitimate heir, and his 
successor seemed likely to be his 
brother, James, Duke of York, 
who with greater courage than 
Charles was an avowed Catholic. 
The last twelve years of the reign 
were consumed in an ineffectual 
attempt to force through Parlia- 
ment a law excluding James from 
the succession. Charles permit- 
ted the enactment of the Test Act 
(1673) which effectually barred 
all Catholics from public office; 
he permitted the Catholics to be persecuted for pretended plots 
against his own authority; many innocent men lost their lives 
without the king risking his position to save them, but he at 
least stood firm against the attempt to cut off James from the 
crown. Charles dissolved his last Parliament in 1681, after it 




COSTUMES OF GENTLEMEN 
ABOUT 1673 



THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND 325 

had begun to show the same fiery spirit of its predecessors 
under his father, and for the last four years of his reign he 
reigned with quasi absolute authority; 1 and the difficult ad- 
justment of the relations between the Crown and the people 
was reserved for his successors. In 1685, this handsome, witty, 
profligate man died, and three years later England underwent 
her second great revolution. 2 

185. James II (1685-88) : his character and aims. James II, 
the second son of Charles I, was decidedly unlike his brother. 
A clever courtier who knew both well asserted, " Charles could 
do good if he would: James would do good if he could!" His 
private character was by no means of the best, but it was supe- 
rior to that of Charles II. He is described as a ''man of infinite 
industry and gravity, and great understanding, and of a most 
sincere and honest nature." He was, however, utterly narrow- 
minded, and exceedingly obstinate in opinions once formed; 
and he had not the least spark of genius or of the ability to 
inspire others to do great things in his cause. He was a sincere 
Catholic, and clung devoutly to his religion at a time when to 
stand by it seemed likely to cost him the succession. To him 
the absolute power exercised by his rival, Louis XIV of France, 
seemed an admirable model for English monarchs harassed 
by their Parliaments, and to increase the royal prerogative he 

1 By altering town charters, and other unscrupulous means, he was bringing 
it to pass that any Parliament he might summon would have a majority favor- 
able to him, and willing to legalize any act of tyranny. 

2 Even in this bad reign, circumstances sometimes enabled the enactment of 
laws which promoted the growth of individual liberty. In 1679 was passed the 
Habeas Corpus Act. The writ of habeas corpus compels a jailor to produce a 
prisoner in court, and to show that there is a colorable case against him; — it is 
therefore a great protection against arbitrary imprisonment. Before the passage 
of this act, the Crown had been able to put all kinds of legal obstacles to obtain- 
ing this writ, and consequently hold prisoners indefinitely, almost "at the king's 
pleasure." 

A tradition sprang up that the act was only carried in the House of Lords by 
an absurd blunder. One of the tellers for the vote counted a very fat nobleman 
as two, and then declined to admit his jest when he found that the change of one 
vote would defeat the bill! 



326 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

strove most earnestly. But his second ambition — to make 
England again a Catholic nation — was one thing which was 
sure to awaken enemies who might have endured his measures 
that were merely political. The Church of England party had 
made unreserved loyalty to the Crown practically a tenet of 
religion. When, however, the king they affected to venerate 
began to try to undermine the very Church which supported 
him, a disastrous strain was put upon the loyalty of nearly all 
English Churchmen. 

1 86. The first years of James. James found his subjects 
divided into two great parties, parties which have in a certain 
manner survived to this day. The old Puritans were crushed 
and silenced, but against the "High Church'' Tories, who 
advocated the sustaining of the royal prerogatives, and the 
repression of all but the Church of England religion, were now 
opposed the more liberal Whigs, who favored a more constitu- 
tional form of government, and the extension of toleration to 
the "Nonconformists." 1 The Tories were at this moment 
predominant; but many great noblemen held Whig principles 
and the nation at large (so far as it had a voice) was probably 
with them. James went into his contest counting on the im- 
plicit obedience of the Tories, do what he might; and trusted 
to sheer force to curb the W r higs. Unfortunately he was to 
discover that the Tories were not to be trusted, and that the 
Whigs were not helpless. 

Early in the reign (1685) the Duke of Monmouth (an illegiti- 
mate son of Charles II) raised an insurrection in Dorsetshire: 
but his undisciplined followers were routed at Sedgemoor: 2 
Monmouth perished on the scaffold, and the " Bloody Assizes," 

1 These party names had arisen late in Charles II's reign during the contest in 
Parliament over the exclusion of James. "Whig" was originally an unfriendly 
nickname for Scottish Presbyterians, while the first "Tories" were certain Irish 
outlaws. In each case what had been an epithet of reproach was adopted in the 
end as an honorable designation. 

2 This was the last battle of consequence to be fought on strictly " English " 



THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND 327 

presided over by the implacable Lord Jeffreys, handed out 
death to many persons whose guilt was more than doubtful. 
This easy victory confirmed James in his purpose. He under- 
took as part of his royal prerogative to " dispense" with the 
law forbidding Catholics to hold office. Many important mili- 
tary and civil positions were thus filled with his co-religionists. 
An army of 13,000 men believed to be reliable was assembled 
to overawe disaffection. As vacancies occurred in the Univer- 
sities of Oxford and Cambridge, royal nominees of the Catholic 
faith were thrust in, despite the plain letter of the law on the 
side of the " Fellows " of the colleges who had exercised the 
right of election. 

187. The case of the seven bishops (1688). Many Roman 
Catholics around James realized that he was carrying things 
too rapidly and urged moderation, but the headstrong monarch 
swept on to his downfall. To silence the protests of the cities 
their charters were annulled. Subservient judges gave decisions 
confirming the king's pretensions. In 1687, James issued a 
Declaration of Indulgence granting religious liberty alike to 
the Catholics and the Protestant Nonconformists. He felt 
obliged to seek the support of the later, and affected to treat 
them with benignant liberality, but unfortunately these 
very Nonconformists, successors of the Puritans, if they dis- 
trusted the High Church party much, they distrusted the 
favors of the Catholics more, and stubbornly refused to be 
cajoled. Many men also, who favored a liberalizing of the 
obnoxious laws permitting religious persecution, realized that 
a clear issue was presented. Could a king — even for a good 
end — abolish by his mere proclamation a plain statute of 
Parliament ? If so, his power was practically absolute. The 
religious issue had thus become a distinctly political one. 

In May, 1688, James ordered all the clergy of the Church 
of England to read the Declaration of Indulgence in their 
churches. As a class these men had thundered from their 



328 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



pulpits for nearly a generation that " obedience to the king 
was among Heaven's first laws "; but at this insulting mandate 
they balked. Very few churchmen read the Declaration as 
commanded. The Archbishop of Canterbury and six other 
bishops lodged a respectfully worded protest with the king. 
"Here are strange words," exclaimed James angrily. "This is 
a standard of rebellion! " He caused the seven bishops to be 
flung into the Tower of London and prosecuted for issuing a 




THE SEVEN BISHOPS GOING TO THE TOWER 
The people of London are wishing them safety. (From a Dutch book published in i68g) 

" seditious libel." It was the occasion for a great national out- 
pouring. High and low joined in unprecedented demonstra- 
tions of sympathy for the bishops. 1 If a respectful petition 
were " sedition," where were the rights of Englishmen? In 
June (1688), the bishops were put on trial. All attempts of 
the crown lawyers to browbeat the jury were in vain. The 
seven were acquitted amid vast public rejoicing. The affair 

1 A snatch of a song in behalf of Trelawney, Bishop of Bristol, has become 
famous: — 

"And shall Trelawney die? And shall Trelawney die? 
Then twenty thousand Cornish lads will know the reason why. 



THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND 329 

was a clear warning to James to change his policy or lose his 
crown. 

188. " The Great Revolution": the overthrow of James 
(1688-89). James was given no great time for reconsideration. 
Almost at the time of the trial a son was born to him. Hitherto 
his subjects had expected him to be succeeded by his daughter 
Mary, a devout Protestant. 1 Now the prospect of a long line 
of Catholic princes came to view, and men grew desperate. 
An appeal was sent secretly by many high nobles to the king's 
son-in-law, the redoubtable William of Orange, to come from 
Holland with an armed force and deliver the country. After 
some prudent deliberation, William acted. The prospect of an 
English crown was, of course, an enticing one, but the controll- 
ing motive in his action was very probably a desire to gain the 
hearty support of England in the life-and-death struggle he 
was waging on the Continent against the overweening power 
of Louis XIV. He therefore landed in the west of England 
(November, 1688) with a considerable army " to secure a free 
and legal Parliament." 

James vainly announced concessions and prepared to fight 
him ; but there was half-heartedness and treason all around the 
king. Practically no fighting took place. As one adherent after 
another slunk away, the terrified king tried to flee to France. 
He was halted and brought back. William found him an awk- 
ward prisoner. James could not be put to death, and to keep 
him permanently in custody would awaken a storm of criti- 
cism. William desired nothing more than to have him escape, 
and James turned out to be his own worst enemy. The direful 
fate of his father was ever before him; and he evaded his 
studiously careless guards and safely escaped to France, to 
become the weary guest of Louis XIV. 

1 Mary was now a mature woman, and married to William of Orange, Stadt- 
holder of the Netherlands, the great foe of Louis XIV. It was honestly doubted 
at the time whether this son of James was really his child, or some spurious infant 
introduced to keep up the male succession. In the public state of distrust toward 
James, any absurdity became credible. 



33 o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

189. William III and Mary (1689-1702). The flight of 
James put the Government in William's hands. He called a 
" Convention" (summoned in the same manner as a Parlia- 
ment), which after much deliberation reached a conclusion in 
which the Whigs and a large proportion of the Tories joined. 
It was that James, by his unlawful acts and by his quitting the 
realm, had " abdicated " the throne, and that the crown was to 
pass to his son-in-law William and his daughter Mary jointly 
(the actual government, however, being reserved for William). 
Accompanying this resolution went the famous Declaration of 
Rights, setting forth the limits to royal authority and the 
privileges of the subjects, and settling many fundamental 
matters. 1 For practical purposes this Revolution of 1689 made 
Parliament rather than the king the final power in England. 
The royal prerogative was still to be an important factor for 
over a century, and the enormous social influence which a king 
might exercise was in no wise abated, but the danger that Eng- 
land would imitate France and drift under a strictly personal 
government was practically at an end. Unspectacular and 
bloodless though it was, this " Glorious Revolution " forms a 
milestone in history. 

W 7 illiam III was himself a Dutchman, and never felt him- 
self at home among his English subjects; nor was he in turn 
popular with them. His main interest was in the great war 
against Louis XIV, who was now earnestly supporting James. 
In 1690, James seized Ireland with a French army, but William 
crossed over from England and routed him at the battle of the 
Boyne, chasing him back to his exile on the Continent. William 
had his own troubles with his Parliaments, who were very 
illiberal in voting war supplies; but in 1697, peace was made 
with France, and the danger of a return of James was greatly 

1 Some of the leading points prohibit the "dispensing with laws," the levying 
of taxes, or keeping of an army without consent of Parliament; and require the 
frequent holding of Parliament; and confirm the right of subjects to petition the 
Crown. Also it is forbidden that any Roman Catholic should sit on the throne. 



THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND 331 

lessened. In 1701, James died across the seas, and in 1702, 
William passed away also. To understand his really great 
achievements, he must be viewed as a figure in Continental 
no less than in English history. 

This reign, however, was not merely one of revolutions and 
fighting. Thanks to the conditions under which William re- 
ceived his throne, his keen interest in foreign affairs, and the 
need of conciliating his new English subjects at every turn, 
his Government saw a number of great innovations, every one 
of which made for the supremacy of Parliament or the growth 
of individual liberty and prosperity. Some of these " corner- 
stones " can be stated briefly. 

(a) In 1689, a "Mutiny Act" gave the Crown the power of 
holding its army under strict martial discipline. But this act 
ran only for one year. Every twelvemonth it must be renewed 
by Parliament. If the king did not convene Parliament, he 
had not the least legal hold upon his army. To this day the 
annual renewal of the Mutiny Act is cherished as practically 
compelling the annual holding of parliaments. 

(b) In 1695, lapsed an old law establishing a censorship of 
the press. It was never renewed. Despite various taxes on 
cheap newspapers, and a severe law of libel, — which was long 
to hamper editors and publishers, — here was another great 
stroke for liberty. 

(c) Thanks to the Declaration of Right and other enact- 
ments, the control of Parliament upon the taxing powers and 
expenditures of the Crown became absolute. Between the 
" votes of supply " and the Mutiny Act, the king was left 
entirely at the mercy of " his noble Lords and loyal Commons." 
The days of Charles I and " no Parliaments " were forever at 
an end. 

(d) One of the banes of Stuart days had been the wretched 
coinage, — badly struck, and subject to unceasing " sweating," 
" clipping," and counterfeiting. It was a really vital reform, 



332 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



when, in 1696, the old and often debased money was replaced 
with a new, honest coinage, with milled edges (to prevent 
clipping). Such a reform, commonplace as it seems, was per- 
haps of more value to most people than many pretentious laws, 
or naval or land victories. 

190. The reign of Anne: (1702-14) the end of the revolu- 
tionary period in England. William died without children, and 
Queen Mary had died before him. His successor (under the 
" Act of Settlement " of 1701, which controls the rights to the 
English throne down to this day) was Anne, his wife's younger 
sister, who had been brought up a Protestant. She was a good- 
hearted but utterly colorless personage, who took her opinions 
and her policies mainly from her ministers and the all powerful 
ladies-in-waiting around her. The greater part of her reign 
was consumed in the important War of the Spanish Succession. * 
At home the main event was the formal union of Scotland with 
England as the Kingdom of Great Britain, — upon terms very 
favorable to the canny and tenacious Scots. Toward the end 
of her reign, Anne fell into the hands of Tory ministers, who 
were intriguing to set aside the laws passed regulating the 
succession, and to summon her half-brother, the unfortunate 
son of James II, 2 to succeed her upon the throne, but she 
died before their schemes could be completed. The Whigs 
again seized the power, and the Elector of Hanover, the next 
Protestant heir, was proclaimed as George I. 

By 1 7 14, England had entered upon a distinctly new era. 
The religious factor had ceased to be a deciding issue in politics. 
The events of 1688 had established that the final controlling 
power was not the king, but the Parliament. The facts that 

1 See chapter xxvi, section 181. 

2 This unlucky prince, "James III," the "King across the Water," as the 
"Jacobites" (his English partisans) styled him, was destined to live in exile on 
the Continent till 1766, wearily cherishing hopes that were always disappointed. 
He was styled by his enemies, "The Old Pretender." His son, Charles Edward, 
"The Young Pretender," made a last brave but unsuccessful attempt to seize 
Scotland, as a stepping-stone to England, in 1745-46. 



THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND 333 

William III was a Dutchman, unfamiliar with English affairs, 
and that Anne was a somewhat weak and pliable woman, had 
tended to throw greater responsibility and authority upon their 
ministers, who in turn were dependent upon the good will of 
Parliament for their continuance in office. 

Thus the way was paved for the " Cabinet Government," 1 
which was to become a leading feature in the later English 
Constitution. 2 Meantime England had, during the seventeenth 
century, increased greatly in material prosperity. Her com- 
merce had grown by leaps and bounds. She had acquired a 
fringe of colonies along the Atlantic coast of America, and 
several islands in the West Indies. Her navy was recognized 
as the strongest in the world, while internally she was begin- 
ning to cease to be a strictly agricultural, and was becoming a 
great manufacturing, nation. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Nonconformists; Clarendon Code; Test Act; Whig; Tory; 
Monmouth's Rebellion; Bloody Assizes; the Declarations of Indul- 
gence; the trial of The Seven Bishops; William of Orange; the War 
of the Spanish Succession; the Treaty of Utrecht; Jacobites. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Sedgmoor; Boyne River. 

3. Compare Charles II as a ruler with Cromwell and Louis XIV. 

4. In the "Restoration" of the Stuarts, what was restored? How did the 
Restoration affect the position of the Nonconformists? 

5. What circumstances made the treatment of the Catholics more severe 
under Charles II than it had been under Charles I? 

6. What is meant by "royal prerogative"? 

7. Make a summary of the steps taken by James to restore Catholicism 
in England. 

1 Cabinet Government may be popularly defined as the rule of a body of 
ministers who are supposed to work as a single unit, and who keep office (or 
resign), as they keep the favor (or lose it) of the majority of a Parliament. The 
coterie of Whigs who acted as Anne's ministers (1708), is supposed to have pre- 
figured the later cabinets, although the whole system was not worked out until 
much later. 

2 See chapter xxxrv. 



334 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

8. Compare, as to causes and nature and results, the Revolution of 1688 
and the Revolution against Charles I. 

9. What part did England play, under William III, in the great struggle 
against Louis XIV? 

10. Compare England in 17 14 with England in 1603 as regards (a) terri- 
tory; (b) economic conditions; (c) religious conditions; (d) govern- 
ment. How far were the Stuarts responsible for the changes? 

EXERCISES 

1. Was the low standard of morals of Charles's court the exception or the 
rule among the royal courts of the period? 

2. What other Englishmen, at various times, received pensions from 
foreign rulers? 

3. The Secret Treaty of Dover. In what relations did this put Charles 
II to Louis XIV? 

4. The Plague, and the Great Fire of London. 

5. The confiscation of the borough charters. Show how this would make 
it possible for Charles to be absolute. 

6. Whigs and Tories and the beginnings of political parties. 

7. Why did the Nonconformists refuse to accept the Declarations of 
Indulgence of Charles II and James II. 

8. The relations with Scotland under William and Mary. Glencoe. 

9. The Mutiny Bill. 

10. The Act of Settlement. 

11. The Junto. 

12. The Bank of England and the National Debt. 

13. The relations between William III and Parliament. 

14. The Union with Scotland. 

15. The Duchess of Marlborough, and the Whigs. 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 324-31. 

Modem accounts. Seignobos: pp. 394-405. Gibbins: pp. 138-42; 144-45. 
Any English history (Ransome, pp. 613-734). 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 

191. Early Russia. Late in the seventeenth century a new 
Christian Power began to thrust itself upon the attentions of 
Europe. The vast "Czardom of Muscovy" had for a long 
time been known to exist to the east of Poland and Finland, 
but Russia had never been taken seriously as a nation formid- 
able either in peace or war. Russia (despite many centuries of 
history) is among the latest of the European peoples to emerge 
into the light of civilization: indeed, in its great rural districts 
this mighty Empire is hardly civilized yet; and in this fact 
lies the explanation of many problems in present-day Russia. 
Nevertheless, since 1650, the Russian Empire has made tre- 
mendous strides, and it is to-day one of the most important 
factors in the world's war and diplomacy. 

The barbarous and pagan Slavic tribes which inhabit the 
great steppes of eastern Europe gained their first tincture of 
civilization by contact with the Eastern Empire. In 865, the 
" Russians " made a formidable attack on Constantinople, 
which was with difficulty repelled. Later dealings with the 
Eastern Emperors were more friendly. Commerce sprang up; 
envoys were exchanged between the Emperors and the northern 
princes; and missionaries of the Eastern Church converted the 
Russians to the Greek type of Christianity. l This civilization 
of " Old Russia " was at its height when the land was overrun 
by the terrible Tartar hordes (thirteenth century), who long 
held the native princes and people in vassalage. Only gradu- 

1 To this day the Russians, of course, persist in being Orthodox (Greek) 
Christians as against the Western Catholics and Protestants. The Russian 
alphabet is based upon the Greek — another result of contact with Constanti- 
nople. 



336 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

ally, after two centuries of disastrous oppression, was the grip 
of the savage grand khans of the " Golden Horde " relaxed, and 
the Tartars driven back to their wilds in Asia (1480). But this 
period of bondage at least aided in upbuilding Russian unity. 
The petty local dynasties were mostly overthrown. In their 
place was left only one important ruler, the "Grand Prince 
of Moscow"; and life under Asiatic despots had taught the 
Russians implicit obedience to a master. The Princes of Mos- 
cow exercised an absolute rule over their subjects, such as no 
Western sovereigns had ever even claimed. The fall of Con- 
stantinople before the Turks (1453) carried with it the loss of 
any claim of the original Greek Church to exercise ecclesiastical 
authority over its fellow believers in Russia; and the Russian 
Church had never acknowledged the leadership of the Pope. 
As a result the rulers of Moscow possessed a control over 
church as well as civil affairs, which increased their total 
authority immensely. They were tyrants over their subjects 
alike for their bodies and for their souls. 

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries this great 
monarchy upon the steppes was consolidating and strengthen- 
ing its grip over the often- turbulent boyars (nobles), and fight- 
ing off its encroaching neighbors. In 1547, the Prince Ivan IV, 
whose surname, " the Terrible," grimly describes his cruel yet 
masterful character, took the title of "Czar" 1 as a token of 
absolute and imperial sovereignty. From this time onward we 
may speak of the " Empire of Russia." 

More than a century elapsed after this event before the 
czars were able to make themselves felt in the West. They 
were really tyrants of the Oriental type, ruling over a people 
nominally Christian in religion, but exceedingly barbarous in 
customs. They were almost isolated from civilized nations. 

1 This title is often said to have been derived from "Caesar," but various 
scholars think it derived from an Asiatic word denoting the holder of supreme 
authority. Possibly it is akin to "shah." "Tsar " is a variant and possibly more 
correct spelling in English. 



THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 337 

On the south, their way to the Black Sea was practically barred 
by the Turks. On the west, they collided with the ill-organized 




russia in 1725 



but then formidable Kingdom of Poland. Finland and most 
of the Baltic lands were held by the Swedes. Only on the White 
Sea of the Far North could the " Autocrat of all the Russias," 



338 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

lord of so many leagues of plainland, and of so many myriads 
of fierce horsemen, find salt water which he could call his own. 
Here, indeed, the Arctic winter cut off navigation for many 
months, but a precarious trade in furs was springing up with 
England. In 1689, however, there came to the throne the ruler 
who changed Russia from a long stretch of semi-barbarous 
lands into a mighty nation. 

192. Peter the Great (1689-1725). Peter the Great ranks 
among the most intelligent despots of history. If any race 
could have been lifted from barbarism to civilization by a series 
of imperial edicts ruthlessly enforced, the Russians would have 
been changed beyond recognition. It is a testimony to Peter's 
abilities that, though his methods were those of the remorseless 
sultan, he was really able to accomplish so much. His chief 
merit was that he recognized clearly the great superiority of 
the Western Europeans over the Russians, and undertook to 
introduce Western arts and habits into all phases of Russian 
life. Early in his reign he visited Holland and England. In 
Holland the tale runs that he worked for a brief time as a 
common shipwright in a shipyard, so determined was he to 
give Russia a navy. From England he took away nearly five 
hundred engineers, ship-carpenters, skilled artisans, artillery- 
men, and surgeons, to execute his great building projects and 
to teach his people. He set up printing-presses, caused trans- 
lations of foreign books to be made, and took measures for 
the education of at least the upper classes among his hith- 
erto almost illiterate countrymen. These works of peace he 
supplemented by warfare, in which, though by no means 
always victorious, he won for Russia the status of a great 
power. 

193. Peter the Great and Charles XII of Sweden. Sweden 
was still (thanks to her victories in the Thirty Years' War) 
counted a great military power. She had a brilliant and 
aggressive king, Charles XII, considered to be one of the first 




PETER THE GREAT 

Czar of Russia (1689-1725) 
Born 1672 Died 1725 



THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 339 

captains of his age. l The possession of the Swedish lands along 
the Baltic was absolutely essential to Peter if Russia was not 
to be hemmed in forever from the sea — and the sea meant for 
her commerce, new ideas, national life. In his first battles 
Peter learned his shortcomings as a general and the weakness 
of his ill-disciplined Cossacks before the veteran Swedes. At 
Narva (1700), Charles won a brilliant victory, but he made 
ill use of it. Peter reorganized his army, and seized some sea- 
coast at the mouth of the river Neva. Here, in 1703, the czar 
founded a new capital city, St. Petersburg, 2 to be the home of 
his reorganized government. When Charles invaded Russia 
a second time, he was utterly defeated at Poltava (1709). The 
military prestige of Sweden was blasted, and Russia was recog- 
nized as a mighty power. When peace was at length made 
(17 21), Russia gained nearly all the Swedish Baltic lands, with 
the exception of Finland. 

Peter died in 1725, aged only fifty- three. He had completely 
reorganized the government of his country, giving it all the 
machinery for a centralized, well-articulated despotism, 
instead of a blundering, semi-feudal tyranny. He had enforced 
the habits of Western civilization upon his courtiers and 
nobility. The serfs (the vast bulk of the population) continued 
in their Oriental degradation without even a veneer of Euro- 
pean culture. 

Peter's successors continued his policy, more or less success- 
fully according to their abilities, through the eighteenth cen- 
tury. The most famous of these rulers was Catherine II 

1 Charles XII was a magnificent field officer. Had he been as excellent in 
planning a campaign as in actually fighting a battle, he would be ranked with 
Hannibal or Napoleon. 

2 The Russian name is simply Petersburg. The "Saint" has been added by 
Western usage. Czar Peter was very far from deserving sainthood. He was 
brutal in his personal pleasures and ferocious in his punishments. With his own 
hands he would sometimes behead criminals by way of diversion. So far is it 
possible for the same person to be a beneficent sovereign, yet a most despicable 



34 o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

(1762-96), a profligate but exceedingly energetic woman, who 
sent her armies victoriously against the Turks, and joined with 
Austria and Prussia in dividing unhappy Poland. By 1800, all 
the world recognized Russia as a tremendous military power. 
It was to take nearly a hundred years more before she had an 
accepted place in the realms of music, literature, and art. 1 

194. The Electorate of Brandenburg. While a great imperial 
state was arising in the East, — in Europe and yet charged 
with the temperament and institutions of Asia, — there was 
struggling into prominence another much smaller state, which 
was destined to reanimate the old nation of Germany, and 
rescue it from the fearful exhaustion and stagnation in which 
it had been left after the terrible Thirty Years' War. This 
state was Brandenburg, which became the nucleus of the later 
" Kingdom of Prussia/' Very humble were its beginnings, yet 
the glory of modern Germany was wrapped up in this obscure 
principality. 

In 1648, the Electorate of Brandenburg seemed to represent 
one of the poorest and least progressive states in the all but 
dissolved " Holy Roman Empire." Its rulers of the Hohen- 
zollern dynasty had obtained the land in the fifteenth century, 
and in Luther's day had become Protestants. Their territories 
were ill-compacted, unfertile, and sparsely populated. There 
were few sizable cities, and little commerce and industry. The 
inhabitants were mostly unkempt, oafish peasants inhabit- 
ing the sandy plain lands, or brave but stupid and inactive 
petty nobles (Junkers), who in their boorish fox-hunting 
traits greatly resembled the English country " squires." The 
Hohenzollern dynasty of electors had done little to distinguish 
itself since gaining power, and yet in some respects progress 
had been made. The Hohenzollerns had never wasted their 
power upon distant and chimerical military enterprises; their 

1 "Scratch a Russian and you will find a Tartar," Napoleon is said to have 
remarked. 



i|P;i 




s IS 
Pi g 



W 



342 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



lands had emerged from the Thirty Years' War rather less rav- 
aged than were many other quarters of Germany; and they 
had annexed the Duchy of Prussia. This large vassal state of 
Poland had been ruled before the Reformation by the " Grand 
Master " of the Knights of the Teutonic Order. 1 In 1525, the 
Grand Master had accepted Protestantism and taken the title 
of " Duke." In 1618, the last Duke of Prussia died, and his 
dominions went to his kinsman, the Elector of Brandenburg. 
Prussia and Brandenburg were by no means contiguous, — 
a great piece of Poland intervened. Still, in the aggregate the 
Hohenzollerns ruled a considerable state. In 1648, the Peace of 
Westphalia gave them the Duchy of Eastern Pomerania. They 
had also several scattered " enclaves " elsewhere in North Ger- 
many. 2 These heterogeneous lands were now to fall into the 
power of a great statesman who was to organize them into a 
formidable monarchy. 

195. The Great Elector, Frederick William (1640 88). 
Frederick William personally was a coarse-grained man, des- 
potic and none too scrupulous; but he ruled a people accus- 
tomed to arbitrary government, and the age was not one of 
nice measures. The great bane of his electorate was the multi- 
plicity of local divisions. There were numerous local " estates," 

— assemblies of petty nobles, ignorant, tenacious of their 
privileges, and grinding tyrants over their peasantry. The 
whole administration of the country was exceedingly weak 
and inefficient. Frederick William curtailed the power of the 
estates as much as he dared, and set up a central privy council, 
to which his ministers and all his provincial governors belonged 

— thus giving the ill-assorted Hohenzollern realm a semblance 
of unity. The taxation system was revised skillfully, so as to 
increase the elector's revenues without increasing the burdens 

1 A military-religious brotherhood, established, like the Templars and Hos- 
pitalers, at the time of the crusades. 

2 An "enclave" was a small German territory belonging to one state, but 
entirely surrounded by the territories of other states. 



THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 343 

of the subjects. In short, Frederick William took a long step 
toward abolishing mediaeval political conditions and substi- 
tuting an orderly " modern" government. 1 

The Great Elector realized that if he were to obtain a great 
revenue from his lands his people must be enriched. With 
German thoroughness and Hohenzollern common sense and 
tenacity, he set himself to building up the industries and com- 
merce of his subjects. Every effort was made to encourage 
scientific agriculture. Louis XIV was driving the Huguenots 
from his dominions by hjs persecutions. Frederick William 
(a zealous Protestant) promoted their settlement in Branden- 
burg. The French immigrants were skilled artisans and agri- 
culturalists; some twenty thousand of them brought the Great 
Elector and his people precisely the assistance and example 
whereof they were in need. Louis had little recked that, in 
banishing the Huguenots from France, he was advancing the 
prosperity of the nation that was to prove his country's most 
dangerous rival. 

One thing more Frederick William did for his land. He 
organized a truly efficient army. He was able to play a very 
respectable part in the wars of the later seventeenth century, 
usually in one of the alliances against Louis XIV. In 1675, he 
won a notable victory over the Swedes at Fehrbellin. 2 Hence- 
forth Brandenburg was something more than a " state " of 
Germany; it had to be reckoned upon as a rising and substan- 
tially independent monarchy to be courted and feared. 

196. Brandenburg becomes the Kingdom of Prussia. Fred- 
erick William was succeeded by his son Frederick, a person- 
age by no means equal to his father in ability. He was a 
showy, extravagant man, who squandered his revenues upon 

1 Of course, much was left entirely untouched; e.g., down to Napoleon's day 
the peasantry of Brandenburg-Prussia were downright serfs. 

2 The Swedes were led by Charles XI, the father of Charles XII: this was 
almost the first great battle lost by the Swedes since Gustavus's day, except 
when overwhelmed by numbers. 



344 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



a tawdry court which ill became the ruler of so poor a country. 
He was not the less ambitious, however. The " electoral cap" 
of Brandenburg seemed too mean for the lord of such extensive 
dominions. In 1701, the " Holy Roman Emperor," being in sore 
need of his help against France, consented that he should be 
crowned at Konigsberg as " King in Prussia." 1 The new king 
was not very cheerfully received by his fellow monarchs. The 
Pope protested angrily at the erection of another Protestant 




•> ° Longitude 14° East from 16° Grcemw^ Id" 



BRANDENBURG-PRUSSIA, 1 740-86 

kingdom. Frederick, however, -- " Frederick I," as he now 
proudly styled himself, — was vastly pleased with his new 
honor. For a while it was a penal offense for one of his subjects 
forgetfully to drink the health of " the Elector of Branden- 
burg." In 1 7 13, this vainglorious reign ended. 

197. Frederick William I (1713-40). Frederick's son was a 
truly great king, yet after a petty, obstinate, picturesque man- 

1 It was some time later that the title was changed to "King of Prussia." 
The idea, of course, was that Frederick was still only "elector" in Brandenburg, 
part of the "Empire." Prussia, however, lay outside of it. 



THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 345 

ner of his own. His father had made the new kingdom almost 
a laughing-stock by his extravagance and vanity. Frederick 
William I won back the prestige of the Great Elector, and 
added to it. In a despotically governed country the character 
of the ruler is everything, and the king was almost exactly 
what the unprogressive land demanded. He was stern, blunt, 
and practical. He was economical down to stinginess, and 
maintained a most unpretentious court. He was strictly pious 
after the stiff fashion of the Lutheran theology of his day, and 
had a rigid sense of justice. In all the realm there was no harder 
worker than this crabbed, ill-dressed little man who seemed 
resolved to make his subjects happy and prosperous, if he had 
to cuff and cudgel them into a state to enjoy their good fortune. 
That his people were entitled to any liberty never entered his 
head. " Salvation belongs to the Lord: everything else is my 
business," he once asserted. 

The story of his reign contains few outwardly striking 
events. Fortunately it was a period when there were few great 
wars, and Frederick William I had too much common sense to 
invite them. He devoted himself to perfecting the machinery 
of the administration, until Prussia was ruled by a magnificent 
bureaucracy (official wheels within wheels), such as was 
boasted by no other Government in the world. The king strove 
diligently to foster agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. 
But his real delight was in fattening his treasury (he left nearly 
$6,750,000 behind him), 1 and strengthening his army, of which 
he was so proud that it was said that he dared not engage in 
war lest he lose some of his darling grenadiers. He turned over 
to his son Frederick II 2 (later called " the Great ") 80,000 men 

1 A very large sum, considering the relative poverty of Prussia and the large 
purchasing power of money in those days. Frederick William I had such a mania 
for economy that he spent only 50,000 thalers (=$34,000) per year upon himself 
and his court — a beggarly allowance for a king ! 

2 Whom Frederick William had treated (when a lad) with an austerity and 
downright brutality which forms a famous chapter in the personal history of the 
Hohenzollerns. 



346 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

admirably drilled and fit for any service. This made Prussia 
the fourth military state of Europe; and Frederick II did not 
let his father's brigadiers grow gray without service. 

REVIEW 

i. Topics — Tartars; Ivan the Terrible; Peter the Great; Charles XII; 
Catherine II; Prussia; the Great Elector; "King in Prussia." 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Narva; St. Petersburg; Poltava; Moscow; Konigsberg; 
Berlin. 

(b) Mark Russian territory in 1689. 

(c) Mark the lands added to Russia by Peter. 

(d) Mark the Hohenzollern lands in 1648. 

3. How did the Tartar supremacy affect Russian civilization? 

4. What conditions gave rise to the absolutism of the Russian czars. 

5. The work of Peter the Great in giving European civilization to Russia. 

6. What is the significance of the statement attributed to Napoleon 
(p. 340, note)? 

7. The condition of Brandenburg in 1648. 

8. The work of the Great Elector. 

9. What were the conditions in Europe in 1701 which made the Emperor 
consent to the creation of a kingdom in Prussia? 

10. W T hat did Frederick William I do to advance the political and eco- 
nomic prosperity of Prussia? 

EXERCISES 

1. What was the ''Golden Horde"? 

2. Ivan the Terrible. 

3. Trade with Russia before 1689. 

5. Manners and customs among the Russians at the time of the accession 
of Peter the Great. How far did Peter change them? By what 
methods? 

6. Charles XII of Sweden. 

7. The expansion of Russia (1689-1795). 

8. The character and work of the Great Elector. 

9. Whose example did Frederick I of Prussia follow in the extravagance 
of his court and capital? 

10. The army of Frederick William I. 

n. Compare Prussia in 1740 with the other German states, in regard to 
economic and political conditions. 



THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 347 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinsoh: nos. 346-52, 354-590. 

Modem accounts. Seignobos: Contemporary Civilization, pp. 3-28. Be- 
mont and Monod: pp. 472-74. Lewis: pp. 477-94. Lodge: chapter xn, 
sections 13-22; xiv, xvii, xvm, sections 25-27. Pattison: pp. 330-33. 
Robinson and Beard: vol. 1. pp. 50-60. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

198. The character of the age. The passing of Louis XIV 
(17 1 5) removed the most remarkable figure in Europe. He 
had played for great stakes; and he had lost. Not till Napo- 
leon's day was France again to threaten to devour all the rest 
of Western civilization. In Louis XIV, absolute monarchy by 
"divine right" had reached its climax. He was the incarna- 
tion of its best features and the demonstration of its worst. 
Slowly the reaction was to set in, leading to a reassertion of the 
rights of that thing called " the people/' not merely to be well 
governed, but to govern itself. This period of slow reaction 
extended till 1789, and is ordinarily described as the " eight- 
eenth century," although it lacked twenty-six years of the 
completed cycle. During this time monarchs continue to rule 
despotically: in continental Europe the subject-classes are 
without any efficient constitutional protection, or any real 
share in the Government. New intellectual and scientific 
forces, however, are at work. 1 The absolute monarchs find 
themselves under keen criticism. They attempt many well- 
meant if superficial reforms. A new spirit is in the air. The 
gradual simplifying of genteel dress — the abandoning of the 
absurd ruffs and flowing wigs of the seventeenth century — is 
a trifling outward manifestation that we are approaching a 
more genuine, a less artificial age. Wars are, on the whole, less 
frequent. They are still waged mainly to gratify the selfish 
ambition of sovereigns, and cause a vast deal of needless misery 
and bloodshed : but as a rule there is some semblance of national 
as well as merely dynastic advantage kept in view. 

1 See chapter xxxi, "The Causes of the French Revolution." 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 



349 



The separate events of this " eighteenth century " do not 
need very minute treatment, but it is necessary to have a clear 
idea of several of the leading royal actors. 

199. Louis XV (1715-74) and Madame de Pompadour. 
France was still, despite the magnificent failure of Louis XIV, 
unquestionably the first power of Europe ; l but Louis XV was 
a very unworthy successor of his mighty great-grandfather. 
He was a mere child when his reign 
nominally began, and for eight years 
the ruler of France was the clever Duke 
of Orleans, a man of profligate life but 
no mean ability. In 1723, Louis XV as- 
sumed the personal government, but he 
seldom busied himself with the hard 
work of administration. His ministers 
were sometimes capable men. Up to 
1 74 1, France was most of the time at 
peace and tolerably well governed. Af- 
ter that date disastrous wars set in, 
from which the French reaped no profit 
from their victories, and sheer dishonor 
by their unnecessary defeats. 

The life of Louis XV was one long 
round of idle, vicious frivolity, wherein 
the accumulated loyalty of the French 
nation to the throne was wantonly frit- 
tered away. The king was too indolent and dissipated to play 
the tyrant, yet some of his ministers did, and at times the 
misgovernment of France was frightful. It was a terrible set- 
back to " the first monarchy of Christendom" that for fifty- 
nine years the " first gentleman of Europe" (so the French 
king was styled) was a man of utterly vicious life; far more 

1 The English navy, of course, was first on the seas, but England never claimed 
to compete with France as a land power. 




A FRENCH SECRETARY OF 
STATE, ABOUT 1720 
Note that while the wig and 
costume are still elaborate, 
the}' are less absurd than were 
the sixteenth - century cos- 
tumes. {After a drawing by 
a" Ulin) 



35° 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



important than Louis's queen, a weak Polish princess, was his 
mistress, the beautiful, witty, selfish, worthless Marquise de 
Pompadour. Her " reign" extended from 1745 to 1764. Dur- 
ing that time she controlled the king utterly, and, through 
him, the State. Ministers were appointed and 
dismissed, wars were declared and ended, at 
the bidding of a profligate and selfish woman 
who had not the slightest conception of the 
interests of France. After her death the king 
found a second favorite, Madame du Barry, 
upon whom he was able to squander 180,000,000 
livres (say $36,000,000) l in five years, and this 
while the finances of France were declining in 
ever-increasing disorder. 

In 1774, Louis XV sank unwept to the grave. 
Despite his personal profligacy he did not fail 
to realize the evil state of France. " This will 
last through my time " ; he said cynically, com- 
menting on the rotten condition of his Gov- 
ernment. All his life he had been sowing the 
wind. His unlucky successor was to reap the 
whirlwind. 

200. Maria Theresa of Austria (1740-80). 
Far nobler than this degenerate scion of the 
great French line was the woman who occupied 
for many years the rival throne of the Hapsburgs. 
In 1740, the" Holy Roman Emperor," Charles VI, died, leav- 
ing by a " Pragmatic Sanction " 2 all hereditary lands to his 
only child, his daughter, Maria Theresa. Thanks to the fact 
that it was alleged that a woman could not inherit the Austrian 
lands of the Hapsburgs, greedy pretenders appeared. Maria 




COSTUME OF A 
GENTLEMAN, 
ABOUT 1770 

Note that the wig 
is smaller than in 
1720, and the dress 
simpler. A snuffbox 
and a walking-sword 
were still essential 
parts of a masculine 
outfit. (From an en- 
graving by Moreau 
le Jeune) 



1 Really a great deal more, for the purchasing power of money was still much 
greater in the eighteenth century than at present. 

2 An especially solemn bequest bestowing the succession to the monarchy. 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 351 

Theresa for a little while seemed forced to fight half of Eu- 
rope; but she rose to the occasion magnificently, though at first 
her armies were disorganized, her lands nigh overrun. "Let us 
die for our King, Maria Theresa! " cried the Hungarian mag- 
nates, when the high-souled lady appealed to them to defend 
her cause and that of her infant son, Joseph (II). Her claims 
were presently vindicated. Her husband, Francis of Lorraine, 
was recognized as Emperor. During a long life she ruled over 
her heterogeneous dominions with masculine energy and tireless 
industry. The reforms she introduced increased her subjects' 
wealth, and the present-day power of Austria rests very largely 
upon her successful administration. To the north of her, how- 
ever, lay an enemy who had taken advantage of her early 
necessities, and whom she never really forgave — Frederick II 
of Prussia. 

201. Frederick the Great (1740-86). Frederick II of Prussia, 
justly styled "the Great," is the most important figure in 
European history between Louis XIV and Napoleon. He inher- 
ited from his crabbed but capable father a small realm, but a 
full treasury and a powerful army. He strove all his life long to 
advance the interests of Prussia as he conceived them. " Men 
have granted preeminence [he wrote] to one of their equals 
[the king] in the expectation that he should do them certain 
services." " Monarchs are not invested with authority that 
they may riot in voluptuousness." " Monarchs are only the 
first servants of the State." No man in Prussia ever toiled 
harder than Frederick at his mighty task. His actions were 
often arbitrary, even tyrannical, but he seems throughout to 
have believed that he was acting for the public good. He was 
without confidence in the ability of the masses to govern them- 
selves, and was never anything but a despot, yet he was an 
'' enlightened despot " in the best sense of the term. " Nothing 
by the people — everything for the people " was, in short, the 
keynote of his policy. 



352 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

A large part of his reign was spent in wars which left Prussia 
exhausted and desolate. Very skillfully he devoted himself to 
the task of recuperation: fostering mechanic arts and com- 
merce, and ordering his finances with that North German 
scientific thoroughness which has done so much to build 
the greatness of modern Germany. In his foreign relations 
Frederick appears less admirable. He was frequently charged 
with treachery, selfishness, and double-dealing in his diplomacy 
and wars, nor can the accusations be refuted. His only excuse 
can be that Prussia was as yet barely recognized as a king- 
dom, and that during much of his reign he was really fighting 
for life. 

Personally he appears as a bountiful but eccentric patron of 
art and literature, who was very tolerant of religious skepti- 
cism. 1 His best amusement was writing bad French verses, or 
squeaking out bad music upon his flute, after a day of hard 
campaigning or office work. His court was simple: his private 
life, pure. The Prussians do well to hold k ' our Fritz " (as they 
called him) in affectionate remembrance. 

202. The wars of Frederick the Great. Frederick the Great 
was involved in two prolonged wars which racked all Europe. 
In the first (1740-48) 2 he threw himself on the Hapsburg 
lands, in alliance with France and Bavaria, and wrested 
from the gallant Maria Theresa the province of Silesia. 3 The 
Austrians were compelled to make peace, leaving him the dis- 
puted territory. In this war he displayed to Europe the magni- 
ficent fighting efficiency of the new Prussian army created by 
Frederick William I, and also the fact that Frederick himself 

1 Frederick was himself an agnostic, although he never took any official 
measures against Christianity. 

2 Frederick did not participate in the struggle after 1745, but France continued 
the war. 

3 There were some old outstanding Prussian claims on Silesia, but it is very 
doubtful if they could be considered for a moment by a modern court of arbitra- 
tion. The seizure of Silesia was really an arbitrary act of spoliation in the selfish 
interests of Frederick. 




OLIVER CROMWELL 

Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of 

England (1653-58) 

Born 1599 Died 1658 



FREDERICK THE GREAT 

King of Prussia (1740-86) 

Born 1712 Died 1786 




GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI 

Italian patriot 

Bom 1807 Died 1882 



HORATIO NELSON 

English admiral 

Born 1758 Died 1805 



CONQUERORS IN BATTLE 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 353 

was a general of astonishing ability without a real peer in his 
age. 1 

This first war, the War of the Austrian Succession, as it is 
familiarly called, did not end in an abiding peace. Maria 
Theresa never forgot her loss. She drew near to the old enemy 
of Austria, France. She even condescended to send a friendly 
letter to Madame de Pompadour. The Empress Elizabeth 
of Russia joined the coalition. 2 The famous u Seven Years' 
War " followed (1756-63). The allies aimed to break up the 
Prussian dominions; perhaps to reduce their ruler to a mere 
Elector of Brandenburg. With only the semi-effective alliance 
of England, 3 Frederick and his small poor kingdom had to 
fight almost the whole of embattled Europe. 

Against these odds Frederick made one of the most gallant 
fights in all history. With dwindling regiments and depleted 
resources, he still fought on, when all seemed blackest: taking 
advantage of his enemies' mistakes; firing his officers and men 
with a noble courage and enthusiasm. The most famous battle 
of the war was Rossbach (in Saxony, 1757), when Frederick, 
with only 20,000 men, routed 50,000 French and Austrians, 
proclaiming to the world the superiority of a disciplined army 
led by a scientific tactician over an ill-conditioned army, the 
officers whereof had been court favorites appointed mainly 
by Madame de Pompadour. The French were not merely 
beaten. They were disgracefully routed: and the disaster 
was in effect a warning that France was no longer a really 

1 It is not quite fair to put Frederick in the class of Napoleon or Alexander, 
but he certainly was the equal of Gustavus Adolphus or Marlborough. 

2 Personal spite, perhaps, played a part in forming this coalition. Frederick 
had a sharp tongue, and he is alleged to have remarked that " three old cats were 
governing Europe." The "cats" were Maria Theresa, Elizabeth, and Madame 
de Pompadour! 

3 The English could supply considerable money to him, but their military 
help was not very effective. In 1761, upon the downfall of the English war- 
minister, William Pitt, the English withdrew their help in no very creditable 
manner, and left him in the lurch. 



354 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

formidable power as long as she remained under her old cor- 
rupt rulers. 1 

In 1763, the three great Powers of Europe were themselves 
exhausted and were forced to confess that their attempt to 
crush Prussia had failed. 2 A long peace followed for Frederick. 
His position in Europe had now been sufficiently vindicated. 
Prussia was alike respected and dreaded. The great king could 
devote his remaining years to more peaceful projects for 
strengthening his dominions. 

203. Joseph II of Austria (1780-90 "Emperor," 1765-90), 
the crowned idealist. Maria Theresa was succeeded by her 
son, the Emperor Joseph, who was a great admirer of Frederick, 
and who had been caught in the scientific philosophical move- 
ment of the times. He was a restless innovator, and strove 
with furious zeal to reorganize his very scattered realms along 
the lines of " enlightenment and reason." Unfortunately, 
although boasting himself as everywhere ' ' guided by phi- 
losophy," he showed a most unwise tendency to try to reform 
almost everything at once. In his scattered provinces were 
vast numbers of old abuses, vested interests, and local privi- 
leges. These he strove to sweep away almost at a stroke, and to 
organize the Hapsburg lands into a highly centralized mon- 
archy. The storm which his unwise improvements awoke was 
tremendous. In the midst of it, he endeavored also to alter the 
organization of the Church : especially he abolished six hundred 
monasteries. 3 New elements of opposition, of course, arose; 

1 As a mere military achievement the battle of Leuthen (1757), when Frederick, 
with 30,000 men, routed 90,000 Austrians, was even more remarkable. Napoleon 
said that this one victory was enough to give Frederick "rank among the greatest 
generals." 

2 For a long while Frederick's fortunes had appeared so desperate that he is 
said to have carried poison upon his person, to avoid falling into the hands of his 
enemies. In this great war he lost several battles and made serious blunders, 
but redeemed all by his indomitable courage and energy. 

3 Joseph claimed to be a good Catholic, but he had reached the conclusion 
that monasticism was a pernicious institution. "The principles of monasticism," 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 



355 



and finally the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) rose in revolt 
(1789). Before they could be subdued, Joseph II died, sadly 
disappointed; a man who had striven earnestly for the weal 
of his people, but who could never learn that in the alteration 
of time-honored institutions the mass of men are less easily 
driven than led. 

204. The division of Polantf (1772-95). The last decade of 
the eighteenth century saw the territorial extinction of a proud 




THE PARTITIONS OF POLAND 

nation — Poland. Chivalrous, brave, artistic, gifted, as many 
Poles have been, as a people their history proves them of 
slight political capacity. The annals of Poland seem one dreary 

he wrote, "are in flat contradiction to human reason." He reduced the number 
of monastic persons in his dominions from 63,000 to 27,000. 



356 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

catalogue of bitter dissensions and civil wars without any real 
guiding principle. The huge land was very ill-compacted. The 
turbulent nobles were hopelessly disunited when it came to 
any common effort. The kingship was elective. The death of 
one sovereign was followed by a tumultuous assembly of the 
nobles, 1 to elect another, — usually an ambitious foreigner 
who only kept his " throne" by^being consistently feeble and 
pliant in his policy. In all things the weak king must be 
guided by the Diet, to which went the representatives of the 
nobility. At this Diet one negative vote defeated any proposi- 
tion (the so-called "Free Veto"). Such an absurd proviso 
put a premium on inaction. The average Diet would break 
up without dealing with the most necessary matters. 

In 1772, the trump of doom sounded for this unfortunate 
country. Alleging various disorders as pretexts, Catherine II 
of Russia and Frederick the Great deliberately undertook to 
tear away portions of Poland " in the interest of civilization." 2 
Maria Theresa at first protested, but, unable to deter her rivals, 
joined in seeking her share also. The wretched Poles, forsaken 
by Europe, were obliged to submit to the seizure- of a large 
fraction of their territory. Vainly in their remaining lands they 
strove to reorganize their Government and introduce an en- 
lightened and efficient regime. The three avaricious monarchies 
were not seeking better government for their neighbors, but 
excuses for intervention. In 1793 came the" Second Division," 
more territory seized by Prussia and Russia — Austria for 

1 The Polish nobles held their peasantry in such subjection that they were 
helpless slaves, rather than serfs. The towns were relatively few and small, and 
there was no intelligent burgher class to be a saving leaven in the nation. The 
peasantry took no interest in a government controlled solely by the nobles, and 
would not sacrifice much to defend it. 

2 Frederick could at least allege the need of securing a strip of land to connect 
Prussia (proper) with the rest of his dominions. It cannot be denied that the 
misgovernment in Poland was extreme. 

Maria Theresa was sorely piqued at the dishonorable part of Austria in the 
transaction. "Our measures," wrote she, "are such that even the King of Prussia 
can accuse us of falseness!" — Frederick was Maria's chief aversion. 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 357 

once getting no share. In 1795 came the " Third Division " 
(Austria also participating). Despite a despairing resistance, 
led by the brave Kosciuszko, the extinction of Poland seemed 
now complete. The whole land was divided among the con- 
querors. The destruction of Poland was practically the last 
act of the old-line monarchies of Europe. By 1795, they were 
already face to face with Revolutionary France. 

205. Louis XVI (1774-92) and the last years of the Old 
Regime in France. Louis XV was succeeded in France by his 
grandson, Louis XVI. He was a notable improvement upon the 
debauchee before him. In happier days he would have been 
an adequate, although not a great, king. His private life was 
pure. He was a faithful husband and a kind father. But he 
was a man without marked public qualities. He was not a 
coward physically, but he was exceedingly timid in speech 
and action, always inclining to the side of weakness and non- 
action. He was also a homely, dull, unimaginative man, 
incapable of arousing high enthusiasm. Worst of all, he was 
very open to the influence of those around him — especially 
to the influence of his queen. 

Marie Antoinette (daughter of Maria Theresa) was a beauti- 
ful, high-spirited, but somewhat frivolous, woman who easily 
controlled her vacillating husband. She, no less than Louis, 
wished well for France, and desired the happiness of the people; 
but neither of this unfortunate couple could take any large view 
of the need of a thorough reformation of the entire Govern- 
ment. Marie Antoinette drew back at any measure which 
seemed to affect her own whimsies and the selfish interests of 
her favorites in the court circle. The weal of France was treated 
as a matter of personal caprice and convenience. 

In 1778, Louis went to war with England in behalf of the 
revolting. Americans. The war ended (1783) with victory for 
America and for France; but Louis gained little benefit. The 
disordered finances of his kingdom were more strained than 



358 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

ever; and the example of American " freedom " was a bad one 
for his restless subjects. Already he had shown himself a weak 
ruler. In 1776, he had dismissed his great minister, Turgot 
(a real statesman with a great scheme for reform), merely 
because of the hue and cry raised against him by selfish cour- 
tiers. For the next thirteen years he had blundered inconsist- 
ently from one adviser to another; the state of his treasury and 
the discontent of his subjects ever growing worse. In 1789 
began the French Revolution. 

206. The " balance of Power in Europe." We must remark 
upon one special factor which had developed in the age of 
Louis XIV and the ensuing eighteenth century — the " Bal- 
ance of Power in Europe." It had become a cardinal prin- 
ciple in the chancelleries of the great monarchies, that no 
one country must be allowed to become too strong, whatever 
be the cost of checking it. Thus practically all the rest of 
Europe had forgotten its old feuds to unite against the over- 
weening power of Louis XIV, and in the eighteenth century 
we find repeatedly great coalitions formed to head off the 
growth of this or that Power, or failing that to secure "com- 
pensations " by corresponding additions to all its jealous 
neighbors. So various small countries, e.g., Venice, were kept 
alive because none of the " Great Powers " could endure to see 
their rivals expanding by seizing their weaker neighbors, and, 
on the other hand, the sudden claims of new "Great Powers " 
(especially Prussia and Russia) for equality in all arrangements 
with the old "Great Powers " (England, Austria, France, — 
and now dwindling into weakness, Holland and Spain) were 
regarded with suspicious jealousy, and were always discon- 
certing. 

About 1770, this system seemed very well worked out. 
Europe might be regarded as in an informal confederacy, ready 
to beat down any attempt of any of its members at extreme 
aggrandizement. It was an artificial and unworkable arrange- 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 359 

ment, however. First the rift came when the three eastern 
"Great Powers" took advantage of the weakness of France 
to begin the partition of Poland. Soon after came the wars of 
the French Revolution. Then the only question speedily was 
this, — how prevent the absorption of all Europe by France? 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Madame de Pompadour; Madame du Barry; the Pragmatic 
Sanction; "Enlightened Despot"; War of the Austrian Succession; 
Seven Years' W T ar; Joseph II; the Free Veto; Kosciuszko; Marie 
Antoinette; Turgot; the Old Regime; "Balance of Power." 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Rossbach; Leuthen; Aix-la-Chapelle. 

(b) Mark the European countries in 1715. 

(c) Mark the additions to Prussian territory made by Frederick 
the Great. 

(d) Mark the "Partitions" of Poland. 

3. Compare Louis XIV and Louis XV, as to character, and influence 
upon the welfare of France. 

4. The character of Frederick the Great. Compare him with the earlier 
Hohenzollerns, with Louis XIV, and w T ith Peter the Great. 

5. How did the rise of Prussia to power affect the traditional relations 
of the other European states to each other? 

6. What conditions in his lands made it impossible for Joseph II to carry 
out his ideas? 

7. What were the conditions in Poland which made its destruction pos- 
sible? 

8. Show, by the examples of other nations, how an "intelligent burgher 
class" in Poland might have been a "saving leaven in the nation." 

9. The character of Louis XV. Compare the Bourbon rulers as a whole 
w^ith the Stuarts. 

10. How did the American Revolution affect France? 

EXERCISES 

1. The influence of Madame de Pompadour upon European politics. 

2. Maria Theresa. 

3. The youth of Frederick the Great. 

4. How did the royal courts of Prussia and France compare in general 
character during the period 1640-1789? 

5. Economic conditions in Prussia under Frederick the Great. 

6. What did Joseph II actually accomplish in the way of reform? 



3 6o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

7. What had been the earlier relations between Russia and Poland? 

8. Catherine of Russia and the "Partitions" of Poland. 

9. Turgot. 

10. The terms of the treaties which ended the Seven Years' War. 



READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 358-64. 

Modem Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 5-10, 75-83, 88-91. Duruy: pp. 480- 
505, 522-24. Lewis: pp. 494~547- Pattison: pp. 333-57- Lodge: 
chapters xv, xyiii, xix, xx, xxi. Gibbins: pp. 155-68. Robinson and 
Beard: vol. I, pp. 60-203 (especially pp. 60-80, and 184-224). 



CHAPTER XXX 

ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 

207. The general tendencies of the age. After the passing 
of Queen Anne the history of England becomes in one sense 
uneventful. The attempt to make the country an absolute 
monarchy had utterly failed. Failure, too, had stamped the 
attempts to make the nation return to Catholicism or to make 
Puritanism the state religion. The great power of France no 
longer seemed to menace the very life of England. The story 
of the nation is, therefore, that of relatively peaceful develop- 
ment, 1 and seems comparatively tame. It was none the less 
decidedly important. A revolution does not lose its significance 
because it is accomplished by ballots instead. of bullets. The 
enlightened England of to-day is the result of a steady evolu- 
tion from the England of 17 14. 

There were certain characteristics common to this age fol- 
lowing Anne. England was still a highly aristocratic country. 
The rulers who controlled the ministry and Parliament were 
neither the kings nor the masses, but the country squires and 
the landed nobility, somewhat influenced by the rising mag- 
nates of the cities. It was an age of a stately and artificial life 
among the upper classes; the age of ceremonious courtesy, of 
powdered wigs, silk knee-breeches, and silver sword-hilts. 
Mediaeval traditions still lingered; modern innovations (the 
fruit of the rising spirit of democracy) were making only slow 
progress whether in society or in government. 

1 The account of the more important wars in which England was embroiled 
(few of which really involved national existence or honor) is told in other chap- 
ters (see chapters xxix, xxxii-xxxiv) . The story of the American Revolution 
is, of course, omitted, for American students will examine it during the study 
of the history of their own country. 



362 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

This artificial spirit spread itself into the intellectual life of 
England and into its religion. The greatest eighteenth-century 
poet was Pope, elegant, correct, but never guilty of the slight- 
est genius. The English Church was also charged with being 
self-complacent and worldly, and it assuredly produced in this 
age no martyrs and few saints. The Nonconformist successors 
of the old Puritans (no longer subject to persecution) also had 
lapsed in zeal. From this lethargy, however, English religious 
life was to be stirred by one of the great apostles of the Church 
universal, John Wesley (1703-91), a preacher of marvelous 
power and spirituality, who strove to make religion a thing 
vital and personal to the untutored multitude. The English 
Church authorities disapproved of his unconventional methods. 
He was barred from pulpits, but he found the people willing 
to gather by tens of thousands to hear him in the open air. 1 
The direct upshot of his movement was the founding by him 
of the great Methodist Church, among the leaders now of the 
Protestant confessions; but the ultimate result of his move- 
ment was also the immense quickening and revival of the entire 
spiritual life of England. 

208. The four Georges (1714-1830). During this period the 
English throne was occupied by four sovereigns of the German 
House of Brunswick, all bearing the name of George, so that 
this time is often called the " Georgian Epoch." None of these 
four men had an estimable character, and it was fortunate that 
the Government now was largely vested in their ministers 
and Parliament. The only one of them who did take a very 
active part in statecraft (George III) interfered with most dis- 
astrous results to his own reputation and to the weal of his 
country. 

(1) George I (1714-27) was a German-born Elector of 

1 One can judge of Wesley's activity by the mere statement that in the course 
of his life as an itinerant preacher he traveled 250,000 miles and delivered 40,000 
sermons. 



364 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Hanover, who was always far more at home in his small Con- 
tinental principality than in England. 1 He understood very 
little of the problems and politics of his greater realm, and 
though "cynical and selfish " was at least wise enough person- 
ally to leave the Government to native ministers, and to let 
free British institutions develop unchecked. 2 

(2) George II (1727-60) was of much the same type as his 
father (with whom he quarreled bitterly). He was an immoral, 
avaricious man whose main interests were in Hanover, and 
who cared for England chiefly as a source of revenue. " He 
had scarcely one kingly quality except personal courage and 
justice." Yet, thanks again to his non-intervention in English 
internal politics, the nation prospered under the rule of able 
ministers. 

(3) George III (1 760-1820), the grandson of the last-named, 
was at least a genuine Englishman; he " gloried in the name of 
Briton." He was a moral, honest, industrious monarch, who 
unfortunately took his duties very seriously. Unlike his pre- 
decessors, he interfered actively in politics, and strove to 
rebuild the power of the Crown. His obstinacy and narrow- 
mindedness formed one of the causes of the revolt of the 
American colonies. The success of their revolt (and the conse- 
quent set-back to the King's schemes) probably saved England 
from a return to personal and possibly to autocratic govern- 

1 Down to Queen Victoria's day the English sovereigns were also "Electors" 
(later "Kings") of Hanover, in North Germany. It was a purely personal 
union, however, and the English let themselves be influenced by German condi- 
tions as little as possible, although once or twice British foreign policy was 
affected by a desire to preserve the king's Continental estates. 

2 In one sense it was fortunate that George I and George II were so German. 
They did not know enough of English conditions to play the tyrant in England 
even if they had desired. In any case, the fear of awakening discontent which 
would lead to recalling "the King across the water" (the exiled Stuart) pre- 
vented them from cultivating a despotic policy. George I was so much a foreigner 
that he did not understand enough English to follow his ministers when they 
met in "cabinet meetings." The result was that they usually met without the 
king, and reached their own decisions: — a great step, of course, toward minis- 
terial independence. 



ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 365 

ment. 1 In his last years George III became insane and his 
eldest son acted as regent. This honest, obstinate, bigoted 
king goes down into history as the best personally, but the 
worst politically, of the four Georges. 

(4) George IV (1820-30) had already acted as regent for his 
imbecile father. He was an individual of considerable natural 
ability, but he trailed British royalty in the mire by his gross 
immorality and general worthlessness. By his day the power 
of the English king had become largely indirect and social only, 
and all this power he nearly threw away. The story of his pri- 
vate life is one long, unedifying scandal. " He was a bad son, 
a bad husband, a bad father, a bad subject, a bad monarch, 
and a bad friend." Fortunately he had one saving grace: — 
he refrained from carrying his baneful activity too far into 
politics. 

209. The growth of English industry and commerce. The 
age of the Georges witnessed a change which transformed the 
whole problem of English society and politics. In 1714, Eng- 
land was still mainly an agricultural country, and its commer- 
cial and manufacturing interests were secondary. In 1830, 
this was decidedly the reverse. The eighteenth century saw 
the steady decline of Holland as the maritime carrier of the 
world. The Dutch were neither conquered in war nor did they 
lose a comfortable home prosperity; but they were too small a 
nation to compete with the English when once the latter threw 
their whole energy into the contest for the world's commerce. 
During all this time the English towns were growing and becom- 
ing full of industrial bustle : London was displacing Amsterdam 
as the chief banking and money center on the globe; and a 
great trade in every sort of manufactured wares was being 
built up with almost every nation, but particularly with the 

1 It is not unfair to say (considering the absolutist tendencies of George III) 
that Washington and Franklin were righting for the liberties of Englishmen 
hardly less than for those of Americans. 



3 66 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



Orient and with the English colonies in America. The loss of 
the American colonies was certainly a blow to this trade; but 
American political independence did not imply that the Amer- 
icans could at once supply their own hardware, cottons, and 
woolens, and for long the old colonies were among England's 
best customers, while meantime she was developing a second 
colonial empire far more profitable than the one she had lost. 
New inventions of great practical utility came to aid the 
British manufacturer in his contest for the world's markets. 

In 1769, James Watt 
took out his first pa- 
tent looking toward 
a really effective sta- 
tionary steam engine. 1 
One small engine could 
soon accomplish more 
than one hundred ma- 
chines worked merely 
by hand power. Other 
inventions were al- 
most equally revolu- 
tionary. Ini767,Har- 
greaves devised the 
spinning-jenny, which 
was soon destined to 
banish the old "spin- 
dle-and-distaff," and 
" spinning-wheel " of earlier days, and two years later Arkwright 
produced his celebrated " spinning- frame," which perfected 
and completed Hargreaves's device; then, to crown all, in 1785, 

1 Newcomen had invented (1704) a kind of a steam engine, but about its only 
practical value was for pumping. Watt improved it so that it could be made to 
turn wheels and so develop power. Watt's first engine of 1769 was still only a 
superior kind of pump. About 1785, he began to build "stationary" engines 
that could drive machinery. 




WATT'S STEAM ENGINE IN 1780 



ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 367 

Cartwright invented the power-loom, which was (after a period 
of introduction) as great a boon to weavers as the " jenny " 
was to spinners. In 1792, an American, Eli Whitney, added 
to these inventions the cotton-gin, which rapidly separated the 
cotton-seed from the raw cotton and left the latter ready for 
the mill. Other innovations notably improved the smelting 
and working of iron, and wrought an entire change in all the 
industries connected with metal. 1 

All these inventions slowly but steadily produced a great 
social and economic reaction as the nineteenth century began 
to advance. Manufacturing ceased to be a matter for a "mas- 
ter" with a few " apprentices " in his " shop." Instead, there 
were huge factories, with hundreds of " hired hands " tending 
machinery owned by wealthy capitalists. The farming interest 
of England became stationary, and then, after the wars with 
Napoleon ended, steadily declined. Its place was more and 
more taken by the great merchant, the great manufacturer, 
and that multitudinous, grimy, unpicturesque but most essen- 
tial element called "Labor." 

There was another marked consequence in this whole change 
of the main interests of England. Manufacturing involved 
concentration in towns, and these " smoky mill-towns " multi- 
plied, especially in northern England. Hitherto the southern 
half of England had been the more prosperous and progressive ; 
but it now remained agricultural, and wealth, population, and 
leadership began to concentrate in the new cities of the North. 2 

210. The naval supremacy of England. By 1830, England 
had become the richest and most prosperous, though not the 
most populous, country in the world. The keystone of all its 

1 In this age England suddenly realized the value of her large deposits of 
coal, hitherto only sparingly used. Here was an abundant and efficient fuel, 
absolutely essential if steam-driven machinery was to be used to full advan- 
tage. 

2 Among the cities that now rise to great prominence are Liverpool, Bradford, 
Leeds, Manchester, and Sheffield, all of which were insignificant villages in 
Cromwell's day. 



3 68 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



riches and glory is summed up in the term " sea-power." The 
English fleets had dominated the ocean since the War of the 
Spanish Succession. The English Admiralty probably dis- 
posed of more ef- 
fective battleships 
than all the other 
nations of Europe 
combined, and these 
ships were infinitely 
better manned and 
commanded. Eng- 
lish sailors claimed 
to have brought to 
perfection the art of 
handling those gi- 
gantic yet bird-like 
creations, the old 
sailing " first-rate 
ships of the line," 
which seemed the 
final assertion of 
man's superiority 
over the elements. 1 
A hundred battles 
on twenty seas had 
confirmed Britain's right to rule the waves. The defeat of a 
British ship in fair fight was counted wholly exceptional. The 
end of the Napoleonic wars (1815) left the French navy in ruins, 
and without the slightest chance for any Continental power to 
challenge the naval empire of the great island nation. Nor 
until very recent times has this naval empire seemed in jeopardy. 

1 The largest " three-decker" ships of the line carried 1 20-odd guns and were of 
some 2600 tons: — remarkably huge structures when it is considered that they 
were built of wood and propelled by sail. For ordinary fighting purposes, how- 
ever, the handier "74-gun" ships were counted better. 




LINE OF BATTLE SHIP OF 1 08 GUNS 
(From a mode! in the Marine Museum, Louvre, Paris) 



ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 369 

211. The winning of India. One great section of English his- 
tory at this time reads like a glamorous Oriental romance — 
the winning of India. It is impossible to summarize conditions 
in that distant empire. The chief facts are these : — India was 
a huge conglomerate of kingdoms and principalities mostly 
under the feeble suzerainty of the " Great Mogul " of Delhi. 
Her jewel mines, her infinite products, her trade, were all await- 
ing the European Power that could throw itself heartily into 
the task of conquest, and be able to make its rivals stand away. 
The Dutch and Portuguese had already tried: but all they had 
won were a few trading-posts. In the eighteenth century, the 
English "East India Company 1 ' had also held some trading- 
posts, notably at the sites of the modern cities of Calcutta, 
Bombay, and Madras. The French were competing also, and 
for the moment a genius among them, Dupleix, came near 
uniting many of the Hindu Rajahs under French overlord- 
ship, at the same time that he was striving to expel the Eng- 
lish. But a greater than Dupleix appeared to champion the 
English cause — Robert Clive. 1 With great skill Clive organ- 
ized the natives ("Sepoys") into regiments and taught them 
to right both the French and their own countrymen. In 1756, 
Dupleix was recalled, as a failure, to France. In 1757, Clive 
gained the battle of Plassey, a battle which practically won 
India for England. With 900 English and 2000 Sepoys he 
routed the host of 50,000 natives led by the barbarous and cruel 
" Nawab " 2 Surajah Dowlah. Hereafter the natives might well 
feel themselves helpless before the "Masters" from the dis- 
tant West. 

By this victory England gained prompt possession of the 
great and rich district of Bengal. The French opportunity in 

1 Clive had come out to India as a clerk in the service of the East India 
Company; then discovered that he preferred using the sword instead of the 
pen. 

2 This title meant "viceroy" (of the Great Mogul); but for practical purposes 
the Nawabs were independent kings, 



37o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

India was forever ended. The gradual annexation or subju- 
gation of the native princes by the British was merely a matter 
of time, — while the prodigious wealth of the India trade 
flowed unceasingly to London. 

212. The English colonial empire. English naval supremacy 
gave the great island kingdom much more than the lordship 
over India. In the very reign wherein the British were losing 
their older colonial empire in North America, they were win- 
ning another, far more extensive territorially, even if not so 
compact. As early as the seventeenth century they had begun 
the annexation of the rich West India islands, such as Barba- 
does (occupied 1625) and the greater isle of Jamaica (taken 
from Spain in 1656). The great units however, which to-day 
enter into " Greater Britain," came in the reign of George III. 
Canada, of course, became British by the victorious peace with 
the French in 1763, and British it remained despite the efforts 
of the Americans to secure its adhesion in the war of the Revo- 
lution. The remote island continent of Australia had been, 
perhaps, sighted by Spanish voyagers (as early as 1522), but 
for long it lay unexplored, much less settled. In 1770, the 
famous English voyager, Captain Cook, made a systematic 
exploration, and in 1788 was begun the first English colony 
near the site of the present city of Sydney. The early settlers 
were for the most part deported convicts, and the new colony 
only gained genuine strength when the discovery of gold-mines 
in 185 1 brought a more desirable class of emigrants; but since 
then Australia has developed into a stalwart and virtually 
independent nation. Simultaneous with the advance of Aus- 
tralia has been that of its smaller but very fertile and commer- 
cially valuable neighbor, New Zealand. 

A little after the first occupation of Australia another great 
colony passed into English hands. In 1806, the English took 
final possession of Cape Colony (the southernmost district of 
Africa), wresting it from the Dutch, who were then in the power 



ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 371 

of France. Here again it was many years 1 before the last 
resistance of the original Dutch settlers was beaten down, and 
the whole wide region of South Africa passed under the British 
flag. But this work was at length accomplished. South Africa, 
along with Canada and Australia, promises to become a great 
nation, with the English language, laws, and political and social 
ideas as its foundations. 

Of lesser islands, trading-posts, and protectorates there is no 
place here to speak. Thanks to the enterprise of English sea- 
men and merchants, and the organizing ability of their states- 
men, in this period the nation became possessed of a colonial 
empire which in the nineteenth century was destined to develop 
into one incomparably greater in mere size than the old Empire 
of Rome. 

This empire, too, has been founded in the main on human 
progress and on justice. The natives have been sometimes 
treated harshly, but usually with an enlightened fairness which 
has made for their civilization. The white settlers have 
been encouraged to develop self-government. The loss of the 
American colonies was a bitter lesson to England, but it was 
learned. No later white colonies have been subjected to 
officious meddling from London and outrageous treatment by 
ignorant ministers ; and the greater white colonies have become 
independent nations in everything relating to their internal 
affairs, and bound to the mother country only by the ties of 
loyalty and self-interest. 

This colonial empire of Great Britain is one of the prime 
factors in modern history, and its creation was the greatest 
outward achievement of the men of the " Georgian age." 

213. The rise of the cabinet system. When the Georges 
came to the throne it was well established that the ultimate 
organ of power in England was the House of Commons. It was 
not so well determined what were to be the relations of the 

1 See chapter xl, section 313. 



372 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



House to the king's ministers, but the end of the eighteenth 
century saw an evolution and an adjustment. It was settled 
that the king must entrust the actual conduct of affairs to 
a small conclave of ministers called the " Cabinet." Theo- 
retically these men were summoned to office by the king him- 
self, and held office only during his good pleasure. Actually 
the king could only appoint such men as were agreeable to the 
majority party in the House of Commons, and he must dismiss 
these ministers just as soon as they could no longer command 
a majority. The king thus ceased to have a decisive voice in 
choosing his own officials. 1 By judicious distribution of court 
honors, patronage, pensions, and downright money gifts, the 
ministers and the king could, indeed, often transform a hostile 
House of Commons into a subservient one, but in the last 
analysis a vote of " No Confidence" in the ministers always 
brought down a " Government " in ruins, and resulted in the 
formation of a new cabinet, led by the chiefs of the victorious 
opposition party. The alternative was a dissolution of the 
House of Commons and an "appeal to the nation" through a 
general election — a risky and uncertain proposition, which, 
if it did not give the ministers a majority, left them more 
defeated and discredited than ever. The King was now a 
" limited " monarch, indeed. 2 He had lost by disuse and by 
the growth of contrary custom even his old right to veto bills 
that had passed Parliament. 

This virtual change in the constitution, and curtailing of 
royal prerogative had been made remarkably easy by the fact 
that the first two Georges were Germans, and withal rather 

1 Thus the king was often compelled to appoint men whom he vastly disliked 
personally. George III was once accordingly "pleased to appoint" to a high 
ministerial post Charles James Fox, his bitter enemy. 

2 Theoretically, indeed, the king kept enormous governmental powers, but he 
could exercise them only through his ministers, and those ministers were really 
appointed for him by the Commons. The king "could do no wrong" and was 
irresponsible, but since he could express his will only by ministers who were 
very strictly responsible for their acts, he was obviously unable to do wrong. 



374 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

dull men, highly dependent upon their ministers. The English 
kings nevertheless kept an imposing position. They were still 
theoretically the final source of power in Church and State, 
and thanks to their great social influence they were still able 
to play a part in politics in a land and age where court favor 
was at a heavy premium. 

214. The great parties and the great ministers. During this 
age the control of the Government oscillated between the two 
great parties, the Whigs and the Tories. The Whigs had been 
the main victors by the Revolution of 1688, and the Georges 
owed to them their crown. 1 With the king's influence to sus- 
tain them, they held the ministries and monopolized public 
office down to the death of George II. George III found the 
Tories, with their loud professions of devotion to " Church and 
Throne," more useful to his schemes for restoring the personal 
power of the king. 2 The Tories came into power early in his 
reign, and kept control with only slight intervals down to 1830. 
In the main the Whigs affected more advanced and " reform- 
ing " tendencies, and they ultimately merged in the modern 
"Liberal Party" of England: the Tories justified their tradi- 
tions and history by becoming the modern " Conservatives." 
Very often, however, neither party represented anything but a 
selfish organization for political patronage and plunder. 

In the long succession of Prime Ministers, 3 capable or medi- 
ocre, a few stand out as commanding figures of history. 

1 The Tories never, indeed, made it a strict piece of party loyalty to recall to 
the throne "the King across the water" (the exiled Stuart); but many of their 
leaders were "Jacobites" (Stuart partisans), and the return of the Stuarts would 
not have been highly distasteful to the majority of the Tories. 

2 By this time the chances of a Stuart restoration had ceased to be serious and 
the Tories could be considered genuinely loyal. 

3 A British Prime Minister maybe denned as the man who is the acknowledged 
leader of the Cabinet and is the chief of the dominant party in the House of 
Commons. The majority of the members of the party in control of the Commons 
thus really chooses the first official of the British Empire. He is often known 
by the French title of " Premier." He is usually himself a member of the 
Commons, although sometimes of the Lords. 



ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 375 

Walpole (in power 1721 to 1742) ruled England for more than 
two decades with great ability, preserving peace at home and 
abroad, and doing a notable work in extending the commercial 
power of England. His regime, however, was based upon an 
unblushing use of patronage and political corruption. 1 He 
was a remarkable but very fallible man. Purer and far nobler 
was the "Elder Pitt" (1756-61; later Earl of Chatham), a 
mighty war-minister who organized with stirring energy the 
campaigns that drove the French from Canada, and utterly 
humbled the House of Bourbon. 2 His son William, the 
" Younger Pitt" (1783-1801; 1804-05), for many years ruled 
the House of Commons with his eloquence, and was the chief 
bulwark of the English party which waged inveterate war with 
Revolutionary France. 

After the passing of the second Pitt, the control of English 
politics drifted to smaller men, and the close of the Napoleonic 
wars left the nation confronting new problems and compelling 
a realignment of the parties. 

215. England at the end of the Georgian age: the case of 
Ireland. The end of the era of the Georges saw England a 
limited monarchy, indeed, but very far from being a democ- 
racy. The "old families" of the landed aristocracy still con- 
trolled the policies of the nation. They, indeed, formed a 
highly efficient aristocracy: to the English noblemen and 
country gentry with their physical bravery and fine sense of 
public duty England owes a large part of her present greatness. 
But the land was full of time-honored abuses and iniquities 
which it cost bitter struggles to sweep away. 3 For example, it 
was only in 1829 that Roman Catholics were permitted to hold 

1 To Walpole was imputed the saying, "Every man has his price." 

2 It is well said of him, " No one ever entered his room who did not come 
out of it a braver man." 

2 For instance, the penal laws were hideously severe: a man was liable to 
hanging for the larceny of a small sum of money; and insolvent debtors were 
still cast into prison until they could satisfy their creditors. 



376 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 




STAGE COACH IN 1804 



office and participate in public life. 1 The new industrial and 
factory life had led to fearful oppression of the wage-earners, 
and every attempt of " Labor" to win better treatment from 
" Capital " was bitterly resisted. Above all, the House of 

Commons represent- 
ed the people only in 
name. The members 
were chosen under 
an absurd system, 
or rather lack of sys- 
tem. 2 In 1768, barely 
160,000 persons could 
vote for the mem- 
bers in a population 
of 8,000,000. Little 
could be accom- 
plished until the" representative body" could truly speak for 
the people. Also a great problem was thrusting itself upon Eng- 
land at her very doors: — the evil case of Ireland. In 1800, an 
Irish Parliament, coerced and corrupted by the English Gov- 
ernment, had voted for union with Great Britain. Ireland as 
a nation had ceased to exist. The majority of the Irish were 
Catholics; they hated their Protestant conquerors; again, the 
majority of the Irish were petty tenant farmers practicing 
a precarious and unscientific agriculture; they hated their 
oppressive landlords who were usually Protestants and either 
Englishmen or of English sympathies. Ireland, in short, was 
misgoverned, discontented, poor, and miserable. This " eter- 
nal Irish question " was confronting English statesmen in 1830, 
and demanding a solution not merely for the sake of Ireland, 
but for the sake of the greater island which had mastered her. 

1 Protestant Nonconformists had been relieved of their heavy political dis- 
abilities in 1828. 

2 See commentary on the " Unreformed Parliament " (chapter xxxix, section 

297). 



ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 377 

REVIEW 

1. Topics —John Wesley; "Georgian Epoch"; James Watt; Eli 
Whitney; Dupleix; Plassey; Cabinet; Prime Minister. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Calcutta; Bombay; Madras; Delhi. 

(b) Mark the important gains and losses in territory during the 
Georgian age. (See map on the back lining pages) . 

3. Compare the four Georges as to character. 

4. What changes in industry occurred during this period? What caused 
these changes? 

5. Why was naval supremacy essential to England? 

6. What was the importance of Robert Give's work? 

7. What was the origin of the English Cabinet? 

8. Compare the relations between the kings and their ministers in 
England and in France before 1789. 

9. Who were the great ministers of the period, and what did each accom- 
plish? 

EXERCISES 

1. How far did the fact that the English kings were rulers of Hanover 
influence English history? 

2. How did the rise of the factory system affect the life of the people, 
socially and politically? 

3. The Portuguese in India. 

4. The English East India Company. 

5. What attempts were made by the Stuarts to regain the throne? 

6. Robert Clive. 

7. Warren Hastings. 

8. George III and his control of Parliament. 

9. John Wilkes. 

10. The effects of the American Revolution upon the politics and the 
colonial policy of England. 

n. Make a brief summary of the character and work of each of the fol- 
lowing men: — Walpole; the two Pitts; Edmund Burke; Charles 
James Fox. 

12. The Rebellion of 1798 in Ireland. 

13. The Act of Union, 1800. 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 365-77. 

Modem accounts. Seignobos: pp. 29-54. Gibbins: pp. 105-09, 1 14-19, 
I 3o-34, I45-5 - An English history (Ransome, pp. 734-936; foreign 
policy, wars, etc., omitted). Robinson and Beard: vol. 1, pp. 80-122. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 

216. The general expectancy of Europe in the eighteenth 
century. As the eighteenth century drew to a close, a general 
feeling of expectancy and optimism pervaded thinking men. 
It was believed that the world was on the eve of vast and 
beneficent changes. The hatreds of the religious wars had 
abated. The attempts of ambitious monarchs, like Louis XIV, 
to crush all rivals had ended disastrously. The inventive genius 
of mankind was displaying new activity. Great practical inven- 
tions were being made as well as discoveries in theoretical 
science. Long since, Sir Isaac Newton (i 642-1 727) had dis- 
covered the laws of gravitation, and Galileo (1 564-1642) had 
invented the telescope. James Watt (1736-18 19), the Scotch- 
man, now, in the eighteenth century, had invented a really 
practical steam engine, and Benjamin Franklin had proved 
that electricity and lightning were identical. More lately, the 
Frenchman, Lavoisier 1 (1743-94), had made notable develop- 
ments in the hitherto futile science of chemistry, raising it 
from an offshoot of discredited alchemy, up to a great science. 
Medicine, biology, astronomy, and many other sciences shared 
a marvelous expansion and remoulding. This vast increase of 
knowledge could not fail to have its effect on many lines of 
human life and thought. Traditional forms of theology were 
subjected to keen attack ; nor did traditional forms of govern- 
ment escape less easily. Frequently it was asserted that 
" enlightened reasoning" could cure all human woes; nor did 
many realize that the problems of mankind (political and other- 

1 It is claimed that he was the first to separate water into oxygen and hy- 
drogen — a fundamental discovery. 



THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 379 

wise) are infinitely complex; that scientific knowledge in the 
eighteenth century was but in its infancy compared to our 
later knowledge ; and that the remedies for misgovernment and 
human perversity by no means present themselves before 
hasty and half-informed logic. By 1780, nearly all enlightened 
Europeans were expecting a great social and political change. 
That change they were to behold : but because forces came into 
play which they had entirely left from the reckoning, the results 
were such as few or no men could have expected. 

217. Why the revolution started in France. This great rev- 
olution started in France: — not because France was behind 
other countries, and therefore in such a desperate condition 
that there was need of an instant remedy, but because France 
was so far in advance of other Continental countries that 
public opinion would not tolerate conditions which other lands 
endured amid stupid discontent. 1 In social influence and nearly 
all the arts of peace France seemed to lead the world. French 
authors, French playwrights, French dancing-masters gave 
the tone to German and Italian manners and society. 2 The 
petty princes of Europe looked to their great brother at Ver- 
sailles for the minutest ordering of their courts. Certain famous 
French philosophers, for example, Voltaire, had the world 
listening to them as to infallible oracles. In the salons of the 
witty, clever, and elegant French nobility all the problems of 
the universe were discussed with astonishing freedom. The 
government and social institutions, however, of this great 
country were so utterly antiquated as to make their perpetu- 
ation a wicked absurdity. 

218. The French monarchy, despotism tempered by ineffi- 

1 Of course, England is here left out of account. In most political matters, at 
least, England was ahead of France; but for that very reason was less likely to 
call for a revolution. 

2 Frederick the Great of Prussia, despite the fact that he spent many years in 
fighting France, was a devotee of French letters, writing much bad French verse, 
and despising his native German literature. 



380 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

ciency. In 1780, the King of France was still theoretically 
absolute. He could still say, " I am the State," and meet no 
official contradiction. As a matter of fact, he was a slave to the 
mere dignity of his position: such a slave to court etiquette 
that he might not put on his shirt himself, if the noble officer 
appointed for the task were present to hand it to him; such a 
slave to court intrigue and influence that only by the most 
desperate summons to his resolution could he retain a reform- 
ing prime minister whom the courtiers found curtailing their 
profits and privileges. The Government of France was a 
despotism, practically unlimited. In a few provinces there 
were bodies called " Estates, " which represented in a feeble 
way the king's subjects, but these by no means existed all over 
the kingdom. The king had a system of "Councils" -min- 
isters, officials, great dignitaries — to draw up laws and con- 
sider questions of State, but they could give only advice; — 
the final decision lay with the monarch. In the thirty-live 
provinces, 1 the king's chief civil officials — the " Intendants " 
— enforced the royal decrees and exercised a minute watch 
over the whole life of the people committed to them. A good 
intendant was capable of bestowing vast good upon his people; 
but very often he was rascally, tyrannical, and inefficient, 
spending his time at the court and deputing his duties to still 
more evil subordinates. 

One nominal check upon the royal power there seemed to be. 
The Parliament of Paris, the high court of France, a large and 
influential body, 2 claimed the right to make royal decrees of 
none effect by refusing them " registration," but this check 

1 Strictly speaking, the intendants were over " General ites," which only 
roughly corresponded with the old feudal provinces, — e.g., Normandy, Gascony, 
etc., — but for practical purposes they were the same. 

2 There were about a dozen other parliaments in the provinces of France. In 
these (and that at Paris) the position of judge could, under certain restrictions, 
be obtained by purchase! Note that in France the parliaments were law courts: 
they resembled the English Parliament only in name. 



THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 381 

was ineffective. The king by the deliberate use of his preroga- 
tive l could always overcome this tentative veto. . 

By 1780, among the king's ministers one always stood out 
preeminent: the " Controller-General." The Government was 
getting into sore financial difficulties. The chief minister would 
have to be he who could find it money. 

219. The privileged and idle nobility. The great Kings of 
France had destroyed most of the political power of the old 
feudal nobility: they had not destroyed its personal privi- 
leges. One hundred thousand-odd individuals claimed to be of 
the "noblesse," and to them belonged about one fifth of the 
soil. The French did not have the English rule of primogeni- 
ture. 2 The younger sons of an already poor nobleman might 
inherit next to nothing of the sorely subdivided estate. Only 
by the most desperate shifts often would they keep up a show 
of respectability, but they would be nevertheless proud and 
tenacious of their " noble prerogatives ": — namely, to share 
in almost none of the taxes laid upon the commonalty; to 
monopolize practically all the offices in the army and navy; 
and to enjoy social advantages to which the wealthiest and 
most intelligent commoner dare not aspire. 

Many of these nobles, of course, still possessed, vast estates, 
from which they collected the multifarious financial dues paid 
by the peasantry to their lords under the old feudal regime. 
There had once been some justification for these dues in return 
for the protection the lord had given his people. Now the pro- 
tection was entirely the king's matter; but the seigneur still 
collected his tolls and tithes. 3 He had too the " hunting right," 

1 Expressed at a great state ceremony called a "Bed of Justice," at which 
the King in person ordered the parliament to "register" his edicts. 

2 In virtue whereof the younger sons and daughters of an English "peer" are 
legally only " commoners," and the noble title and privilege descend to the eldest 
son alone. 

3 For example, the noble would have the right to levy on a certain fraction of 
the crops, and sometimes to collect a toll on sheep or cattle driven past his 



382 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

— to send his hounds and horses across the peasants' farm- 
lands, even trampling down the standing grain. The peasants 
were not suffered to shoot the deer from the lord's game pre- 
serves or even the doves from his dove-cots that spread over 
the newly seeded fields. To the exasperated farmers this 
" Right of the Dove-Cots" often seemed more obnoxious than 
the exemption of the seigneur from taxes. 

The average nobleman did not exercise these privileges over 
his peasantry in person. Usually he sublet his rights to some 
greedy contractor. 1 For himself the ideal life was at Versailles 
at the king's court. Every sou that could be screwed out of the 
wretched canaille on the farms was so much to his advantage. 
A nobleman must not sully his name by engaging in any gain- 
ful business. He would even look askance at many forms of 
public service, not connected with the gentlemanly calling of 
the army. The typical French nobleman was elegant and witty, 
a charming comrade to his social equals, and physically brave. 
He was, however, often immoral, almost always idle, and 
without the least idea that great privileges carried with them 
great responsibilities. The noblesse had many superficial vir- 
tues, but were nevertheless a woeful incubus upon the progress 
of France. 

220. The bourgeoisie of the towns. Aside from Paris, 
France had few great cities: in the scattered towns, however, 
and most especially in Paris, was an influential social class — 
the wealthy, commercial, aspiring bourgeoisie. They were 
without the personal privileges of the noblesse, but were not 
to be confounded with the peasantry. They prided themselves 
on being addressed as " Monsieur" and "Madame." The 

chateau. The dues everywhere varied. They would be settled by old local 
custom. 

1 Frequently the noble retained the right to make certain levies upon the 
peasants in districts where he no longer actually owned any land. Such levies 
which were merely supertaxes, in addition to the king's revenues, were naturally 
extremely exasperating. 



THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 383 

leaders of this rank would be the wealthy capitalists on whom 
the king's ministers relied for handling the public loans. At 
the foot of the rank were the small shopkeepers and master- 
artisans, who were as tenacious of the petty privileges of their 
industrial guilds 1 as were the noblesse of their feudal rights. 
Despite much selfishness and vulgarity, however, the bour- 




CARNIVAL IN THE STREETS OF PARIS, 1757 

(Ajter a picture by Jeaurat) 

geoisie constituted the most intelligent and public-spirited 
fraction of the nation. They were the most open to the new 
ideas; the most conscious of the wrongs of the existing order; 
the most active in trying to remedy the evils. 

221. The helpless and discontented peasantry . All the bur- 
dens which the noblesse refused and the bourgeoisie often evaded 
fell upon the helpless lower classes, who constituted the vast 

1 Usually in each town there were a number of guilds with a very exclusive 
membership, and the monopoly of the manufacture and sale of some very limited 
article; e.g., one guild might handle only men's shoes, another women's, a third 
children's. 



384 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

majority of the 25,000,000 of France. Between the levies of 
the seigneur, the levies of the king, and the exactions of the 
Church, 1 the peasantry in many districts appear to have been 
unable to gain more than a most precarious living. Any failure 
of crops or like calamity involved widespread misery and 
famine. Life to the bulk of Frenchmen meant the most severe, 
grinding field-labor. Even if a family prospered in a small 
way, they hesitated to show any sign of comfortable living: it 
would have been seized as proof that they could pay heavier 
taxes. Yet this French peasantry, although fearfully ignorant, 
was a good stock: hard-handed, industrious, patriotic, and 
usually clear-headed, it was to supply the energy and fighting 
force which made the French Revolution the wonder of terrified 
Europe and which enabled Napoleon to carry his banners from 
the Rhine to Moscow. 

222. The unequal and absurd system of taxation. The most 
abominable feature of the whole evil " Old Regime " in France 
was the fact that the Government was nearly bankrupt, 
while the people were groaning under taxation at a moment 
when under a rational system the rich land could readily have 
turned in much greater revenues. 

The direct imposts which fell upon the non-nobles were 
various. There were a property tax (taille), poll-tax (capita- 
tion), and especially the corvee — forced labor upon the roads 
and other public works. Fifty-three per cent, it is said, of the 
net profits of a small farmer would be swept away by the king's 
tax-collector. 2 The Church and the feudal seigneur had still 
to be satisfied! In the assessment of these taxes there was 
every kind of inequality. The intendant of a province and his 
deputies could reduce or increase assessments almost arbi- 
trarily. All the friends and "friends of friends " of the assessors 
were sure to look for favors or downright exemption. 

1 See section 223. 

2 This statement rests on good authority, yet many scholars hold that it was 
exaggerated. 



THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 385 

The direct taxes, however, were only a part of the royal 
revenues. Very important were the indirect taxes, the right 
to collect which were usually sold away by the Government to 
wealthy " tax-farmers," who would pay the king a lump sum, 
and then recoup themselves by collecting a given tax for a 
fixed period. The agents of such men were sure to exact the 
uttermost farthing. These indirect taxes were numerous and 
outrageous. Between almost every two adjacent provinces of 
France there was a custom-house, and duties levied on all 
merchandise passing. Salt was a state monopoly, disposed of 
at government shops. The price of salt varied arbitrarily in 
different parts of France: in one district the price fixed might 
be eight times as much as that levied in a locality a few miles 
away. Under penalty of law every head of a family, in some 
districts, was compelled to buy annually seven pounds of salt 
for every member of his household above the age of seven. It 
was a penal offense to boil down brine to obtain salt, instead 
of buying at the public depot. The prisons and galleys were 
full of salt smugglers. 

Yet at the very time of this terrific taxation, the royal 
treasury was chronically depleted. The cost of collecting this 
revenue was enormous. A perfect horde of harpies, great and 
little, came in for their profits and pickings. The court was full 
of sinecure officers at enormous salaries. The "tutor of the 
king's children" received a salary of $23,000: the "superin- 
tendent of the queen's household," $30,000. The waste every- 
where at Versailles was incredible. The three maiden aunts of 
Louis XVI received an allowance of $120,000 for food! 1 A long 
list might be made of similar absurdities. Of course, all this 
involved a shameless exploitation of the treasury; and a reign 
of what the modern age has called " graft." 

223. A worldly and unbelieving clergy. There were about 

1 Naturally the menials who administered the affairs of these worthy ladies 
saw to it that most of this money went into their own pockets. 



386 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

130,000 prelates, priests, monks, and nuns in France. About 
one fifth of the entire landed property of the kingdom belonged 
to the Church. Protestants, although not quite so drastically 
persecuted as under Louis XIV, had no legal status. This 
Catholic clergy had thus great wealth and an entire monopoly 
of religion; but the great churchmen, no more than the lay no- 
bility, displayed any sense of the responsibilities involved with 
their riches and influence. Between the upper clergy (bishops, 




THE INTERIOR OF NOTRE DAME, PARIS, IN THE EIGHTEENTH 
CENTURY 

abbots, canons, etc.) and the rank and file of the parish priests 
there was a great gulf fixed. The regular parish priests were 
recruited ordinarily from the lower classes. Their salaries 
were miserably small: in 1784, their average income was only 
$140 per year. While the French Church was exempt from the 
taxes which fell upon the non-noble laity, it paid a fair-sized 
"Free Gift" to the king; but the lion's share was usually 
exacted from the parish clergy. 

The great ecclesiastical offices were practically monopolized 



THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 387 

by the scions of the nobility. The peasant paid a third heavy 
tax to the Church (tithes) after he had satisfied the king and 
the seigneur. His hard-earned money, however, went not for 
the most part to the laborious and pious if perhaps narrow- 
minded local cure. The noble " higher clergy " absorbed five 
sixths of the whole vast revenues of the Church (about $60,- 
000,000). They spent it usually in a manner very uneccle- 
siastical, indeed. The great bishops were commonly lordly 
noblemen maintaining magnificent courts, dispensing elegant 
hospitality, and totally ignoring their religious duties. The 
most magnificent of these mitered princes was the Cardinal 
de Rohan. His income was $200,000. Fourteen butlers waited 
upon him. In his palace were 700 beds; and in his stables 
stalls for 200 horses. He could entertain 200 guests and their 
servants simultaneously. Many of these great churchmen were 
extremely immoral, and their lives the subject for common 
scandal. l 

These worldly and immoral upper clergy were not even sin- 
cere in the support of the faith they professed. Although most 
of the bishops deplored any toleration of the Protestants, it 
was notorious that many did not believe the ordinary tenets 
of the Catholic religion. " There may be four or five," said a 
well-informed Paris priest when asked how many of the French 
bishops really believed what they preached. The intellectual 
movement of the age was profoundly anti-religious, and the 
great churchmen were cheerful sharers in the thought of their 
day — so long as their own incomes were not harmed. 

Between this upper clergy (recruited from the noblesse) and 
the peasant-born lower clergy, there was distrust and ill- 
feeling. The French Church went into the impending crisis 
discredited and disunited. 

1 The deplorable worldliness of the higher French clergy on the eve of the 
Revolution is widely admitted by Catholic as well as by Protestant writers. It 
took the terrible chastening of the Reign of Terror to restore the French church- 
men to lives of piety and genuine religion. 



388 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

224. Voltaire and Rousseau. The new intellectual move- 
ment had two distinguished prophets — Voltaire and Rous- 
seau. Others championed the reign of " pure reason," " philos- 
ophy," and " science," no less ardently — but these were the 
leaders. 

Voltaire (1 694-1 778) was the most notable literary genius 
of the eighteenth century. No man ever wrote the clear, force- 
ful, elegant French language with greater effect than he. He 
was a dramatist, an historian, an essayist, and everywhere 
won fame; but his one real mission in life was to puncture 
shams. The despotism, superstition, hypocrisy, and servility 
of the age led him to assail the French institutions and the 
Christian Church (as he understood it), with a bitter, unspar- 
ing pen. Through a long life the greatest literary figure in 
Europe thus played the iconoclast. Feeble attempts to suppress 
him only put his works in greater demand. He died before 
witnessing the Revolution he had done so much to promote, 
but at a time when the " Old Regime " was already tottering 
to its fall. 1 

Voltaire was the destroyer of the old: Rousseau (1712-78) 2 
was more constructive. In several quasi-romances, and espe- 
cially in his famous treatise, "The Social Contract," he set 
forth a theory that was seized upon with avidity by an arti- 
ficial age already tired of its own emptiness and absurdities. 
Rousseau sets forth that the conventionalities of society are 
utterly wrong. To be happy men should u return to nature," 
and live the life of the " noble, unspoiled savage." " Civilized 
man is born, lives, dies in a state of slavery [to artificial con- 
ventions]. The Caribbeans are more fortunate than we by 
half I" In " The Social Contract " he suggested the establish- 

1 There is much in Voltaire's personal character (as in Rousseau's) that has 
been execrated by unfriendly critics, but that is no reason for ignoring his 
tremendous influence upon the thought of his day. 

2 Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland; he spent much of his life in 
France, however, and may be counted practically a Frenchman. 



THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 389 

ment of a republic, with universal suffrage, on a basis of " lib- 
erty, fraternity, and equality." His theories were crude. The 
present age laughs at many of his premises and conclusions, 
but his books were read almost as inspired Scripture by the 
Frenchmen of his day. "The Social Contract " was practically 
the Bible of the French Revolutionists. 

225. The prime factors in the French Revolution. Here, 
then, were the causes of the great explosion which was to rock 
Europe. The social and political institutions of France were 
hopelessly evil; and men believed that by applying certain 
a priori theories it was possible to establish a new regime under 
which all humanity could be " happy." There was abundant 
complaint from every quarter, and abundant wordy wisdom 
as to the remedy; but there was almost no practical experience 
as to that remedy. At the beginning of the Revolution drama, 
here are the main factors for the setting : — 

(a) The king and court. In sore need of money; the treasury 
practically empty; yet with a healthy fear of imposing new 
taxes on mere royal fiat, lest a revolt be provoked that would 
ruin the monarchy. 

(b) The noblesse and upper clergy. Idle, corrupt, discred- 
ited; incapable of effectively aiding the king; and with many 
individual members tinctured with the new thought and willing 
to help destroy the privileges of their own order. 

(c) The bourgeoisie of the towns. The real brains of France; 
discontented, active, aggressive; patriotically anxious to ad- 
vance the interests of France, but full of crude political and 
social theories which would carry them they knew not whither. 

(d) The peasantry and mob of Paris. At first too ignorant 
and hopeless to take action, but when once roused capable of 
a terrible burst of blind fury against their oppressors; and, of 
course, even more open than the bourgeoisie to specious though 
fallacious arguments. 

The Revolution was begun by the bourgeoisie aided by an 



39° 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



intelligent minority of the noblesse. In the second stage of the 
movement the worst passions of the lower classes were awak- 
ened and unchained. Then followed the Reign of Terror. 

REVIEW 

i. Topics — Intendants; Parliament of Paris; Controller-General; Right 
of the Dove-Cots; Taille; Corvee; Voltaire; the "Social Contract." 

2. Why were "enlightened Europeans" expecting great changes to take 
place in social and political conditions at the end of the eighteenth 
century? 

3. Why was France in advance of other Continental countries, as de- 
scribed in section 217? 

4. Make a table of comparisons according to the following plan, covering 
sections 218-23. 



Estates 



First Estate 
(Clergy) 

Second Eslate 
(Nobles) 

Third Estate 

(a) Bourgeoisie 

(b) Peasants. . . 



Proportion 

of 
Population 



Privileges 



Obligations 
(services, taxes, etc.) 



Sources of income 



5. The work of Voltaire and of Rousseau in preparing the way for a 
change. 

EXERCISES 

1. The scientific knowledge at the end of the eighteenth century. 

2. The etiquette of the French court. 

3. Taxation under the Old Regime. 

4. How did the wiitings of Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, and the 
Economists influence the thought of the period? 

5. What were the industrial conditions in France? 



READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 378-93. 

Modem accounts. Seignobos: pp. 55-75, 88-91, 92-106. Duruy: pp. 506- 
34. Lodge: chapter xxi. Robinson and Beard: vol. 1, pp. 203-24. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 

226. The summoning of the States General (1789). The 

spring of 1789 saw France profoundly agitated. After long 
tension in palace circles, after several abrupt changes in the 
ministry, and resort to many desperate fiscal expedients, King 
Louis XVI and his advisers found their Government confront- 
ing bankruptcy. The revenues would not meet the regular 
public charges, capitalists refused loans, and to increase the old 
unjust taxes would provoke bloody revolt. Yet the Govern- 
ment must have more money or cease to exist. By what means 
could this be secured? An increasing chorus of voices answered 
— "through the States General of France." 

In 1788, Louis announced that he would convene the " States 
General "; and as proof of sincerity restored as director of the 
treasury the clever and popular financier, Necker, who had 
formerly lost office through a court intrigue. While Necker 
attempted various stopgaps to gain funds for a few months 
longer, France was stirred by a rare event, an election for the 
States General. 

This latter was an old, discarded institution that had not 
been convened since 16 14. Louis XIV, and Louis XV after 
him, had abhorred the very name of this assembly. Still, its 
existence had never been forgotten. In a most imperfect way 
it had resembled the English Parliament. It had met in three 
houses; (1) The Clergy; (2) the Nobility; (3) the deputies of 
the Third Estate (the commonalty of France). In the Middle 
Ages it had been convened only at rare and irregular intervals. 
For it to pass any measure all three of its sections, meeting 



3Q2 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

separately, were obliged to agree on a common action. L About 
its only real use had been to give the show of popular consent 
to some extraordinary tax desired by the king. 

Now in the day of necessity this old machinery was refur- 
bished. For the first time in six generations France had some- 
thing corresponding to an election. There were to be chosen 
300 representatives of the clergy, 300 of the nobility, and 600 
of the " Third Estate." But the first two groups could speak 
and vote for only two very limited classes: the third for 25,000,- 
000 Frenchmen. Were these 600 non-nobles meekly to walk 
behind the aristocrats and bishops and accept their leadership? 
Were the three classes to meet in three separate assemblies or 
only in one? If in three, then the demands of the non-noble 
majority for reform could be thwarted by the resistance of the 
nobles alone, even though the clergy took the popular side. 
These vital questions, especially this last issue of " voting by 
order or by head " (in three bodies or in one), were not settled 
clearly in the royal decree ordering the election, and here was 
the germ of the first great conflict. 

There was little previous political experience in France. 
Men do not learn instantly how 4l to act politically." The 
Third Estate had to choose its deputies clumsily by the citizens 
of each district appointing " electors," these delegates naming 
the actual representatives. Very many country lawyers were 
chosen, men full of the ideas and theories of Rousseau, and 
convinced that they were sent to Versailles, not simply to vote 
the king more money, but to execute great reforms for France. 2 

1 It was notorious that the three parts of the States General were usually 
bitterly at variance, and unable to unite on any action unwelcome to the king. 
It had never been a reliable check upon the French monarchs, and after 1614 
the masterful sovereigns had disregarded any obligation to convene it, and had 
made laws and imposed taxes on the mere strength of their royal decrees. 

2 Each district when it elected its deputies drew up a cahier, a bill of com- 
plaints, which its delegate was supposed to get adjusted. A study of these 
cahiers shows that Frenchmen were expecting a general reformation of the 
Government to take place; especially the restriction of the despotic power of the 
Crown and the abolition of the relics of feudalism in society. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 393 

Everywhere there was unrest and eager expectation. Every- 
where, in a land where genuine political discussion had hitherto 
been suppressed by the authorities, was a most violent agitation 
for all kinds of reforms. The spirit of the winter 1788-89 was 
summed up in a keen pamphlet by the politically minded 
Abbe Sieves. — What has the Third Estate (he asked) been 
hitherto? Nothing! What does it ask? To be something! 
What ought it to be? Everything ! The nobility and the clergy 
(he argued) could be safely disregarded. Without their 200,000 
members the Third Estate would still be " a free and flourish- 
ing nation " of 25,000,000. 

" Liberty " — a strange word in monarch-ridden Europe — 
was freely spoken in France in 1789. Men fondly believed that 
they were on the eve of a prompt and peaceful change to an 
era of " freedom and enlightenment." 

227. The meeting of the States General (1789). On May 5, 
1789, at the royal city of Versailles, met the deputies of France. 
If Louis and his adviser Necker had realized the eager desire 
of the vast majority of Frenchmen for sweeping reforms, and 
had put themselves at the head of the movement, they might 
have avoided many explosions which followed. But Louis (a 
man without imagination) and Necker (a mere financier) sim- 
ply wished the deputies to consider various fiscal expedients, 
no doubt excellent, but not remedies for the grievous woes of 
France. Besides, in the opening ceremonies, the Third Estate 
members were exasperated by being treated as the social 
inferiors of the clergy and nobility. The king presently re- 
quired the deputies to " organize." The nobles and a majority 
of the clergy did so, as two separate bodies, — apart from the 
commoners. 1 The latter refused at first to organize, on the 

1 Many of the clergy were delegates elected by the country cures, who had 
little fellowship with the lordly prince-bishops. From the first this strong 
minority among the clergy was ready to act with the commons. Also a few 
nobles (e.g., Lafayette, the friend of Washington) wished to join with the Third 
Estate. 



394 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



ground that they were only part of a single grand assembly, 
and that a large number of fellow members were absent. But 
presently the Third Estate cut the knot by declaring itself as 




THE STATES GENERAL IN SESSION AT VERSAILLES 

(After a contemporary drawing by Monnet) 

being " the representatives of ninety-six per cent of the French 
nation," and therefore the " National Assembly," and per- 
fected its organization as if it were the sole body, the others 
mere groups of negligible absentees. This speedily provoked 
a crisis. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 395 

The king was full of good intentions, but he was not anxious 
to have the privileged classes swamped in a gathering where 
they were sure to be outvoted. Under the pretext that its hall 
would need to be arranged for a special " royal sitting," the 
Assembly was excluded from June 17 to June 23. Then it was 
expected by the angry court party that the upstart country 
lawyers would be taught their proper place and functions. 

228. The tennis-court oath {June 20, 1789). But the com- 
mons, timid at first and placed amid strange surroundings, 
were finding courage with organization. Leaders were develop- 
ing: especially Mirabeau, a nobleman, who, after a wild and 
discreditable youth, had come to place his really great gifts 
as orator and statesman at the service of the people. Angered 
by the delays and veiled threats of the courtiers, and again 
convinced that behind themselves were the desires and even 
the weapons of enkindled France, the commons met in a tennis- 
court at Versailles, and with one great voice and hands raised 
high took oath " never to separate until they had given France 
a constitution." 1 

The firm attitude of the Third Estate was already intimi- 
dating the upper orders, and there were desertions from them 
to the " Assembly," before the " Royal Session" took place on 
June 23. The deputies of all classes were then gathered in the 
main hall while the king set forth many excellent reforms, 2 
but he bade the " Estates " meet separately " after the ancient 
custom." When the king retired, most of the higher orders 
followed him. The commons sat stolidly in their seats. 

" Have you heard the orders of the king? " asked the haughty 
" Master of Ceremonies." 

1 Meeting as one body of 1200, the 600 commoners, plus a large number of 
cures sure to be on their side, could easily outvote all the nobles and upper 
clergy, and put through any unwelcome program. 

2 One year earlier these proposed reforms would have made Louis XVI 
intensely popular. It was his misfortune always to do his good deeds just a little 
too late! 



396 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

u Yes, sir," retorted Mirabeau, and his words reechoed 
through the applauding nation, " and let me tell you that we 
are here by the will of the people, and that we shall only quit 
our seats at the point of the bayonet! " 

It was a decisive moment. Louis could have ordered in his 
soldiery, but the dispersal of the elected deputies of France 
might have precipitated a general uprising. The Government 
was bankrupt. In the votes of the Assembly was its only 
financial hope. The king's nerve failed him. He recoiled at 
such a conflict with his subjects, and presently swallowed his 
dignity. The king actually " asked " the nobles and clergy 
to join the commons. They hastily obeyed. The National 
Assembly was at last genuinely constituted and could begin 
the reformation of France. 

229. The fall of the Bastille (July 14, 1789). As yet, however, 
mere moral force and the vague fears of an uprising had com- 
pelled the indignant court party to retreat. The queen and 
many more about Louis strove to convince him that, in appeal- 
ing for help to his subjects, he had invoked not assistance but 
a destructive demon. There was still imminent danger that 
the Assembly would be dissolved by arms, and France thrown 
back into the old ways of despotism. Then it was that the mob 
of Paris supplied the actual fighting force which was to enable 
the Assembly to do its work in safety. 

Paris had been one seething cauldron during June, 1789. 
Men were willing to hope anything from the Assembly, to 
believe everything ill of the court party. A misstep by the 
king 1 precipitated the crisis. Necker (accounted too a popu- 
lar " for the court party) was dismissed from office. Certain 
German and Swiss mercenary regiments were moved close to 
Paris and Versailles; — " to break up the Assembly " spread 

1 At Louis's elbow were the queen, and his brothers, the Counts of Provence 
and Artois (the later kings Louis XVIII and Charles X) — short-sighted, in- 
competent, and reactionary, who hated all proposals for reforms with a fervor 
worthy of a better cause. 




LOUIS XI 

King of France (1461-1483) 

Born 1423 Died 1483 



RICHELIEU 

French cardinal and statesman 
Born 1585 Died 1642 




MIRABEAU METTERNICH 

French revolutionary leader Austrian statesman 

Born 1749 Died 1791 Born 1773 Died 1859 

ARCHITECTS OF EMPIRE 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 397 

common rumor. The tilings drove the uneasy spirits in Paris 
frantic. At the "'Palais Royal" (a favorite gathering-place) 
a young man, Camille Desmoulins, applied the match to the 
magazine. Leaping upon a table, he sent his voice over the 
buzzing, excited throng: " Citizens! They have driven Necker 
from office. They are preparing a St. Bartholomew for patriots. 
To arms! To arms!" 

The next night and day were spent by the Parisians in arm- 
ing and organizing. The insurgents were joined by the " French 
Guards," a kind of local militia. Arsenals were broken open. 
On July 14, the multitude cast itself upon the Bastille, the 
king's great prison-fortress, the embodiment of royal tyranny 
in Paris. The weak garrison soon surrendered and were massa- 
cred by the infuriated Parisians. 1 

The king's power in his chief city had crumbled in a twink- 
ling. It was evident that he had no effective army wherewith 
to crush his malcontent subjects. 

" This is a revolt! " — the tale runs — cried Louis to the 
Duke of Liancourt, who brought the news. 

"No, sire," came the reply; "it is a revolution." 

The duke was right. The weakness of the king stood revealed. 
No physical force could stop the Revolution now, - — it must go 
on its way. 

230. Paris captures the monarchy (October 6, 1789). The 
agitation soon spread to the provinces. The wolfish peasants 
rose against their hated seigneurs. The police were powerless. 
By night the skies were red with burning chateaux. In the 
name of mere decency and order, all over France the intelli- 
gent " middle classes " organized provisional local governments, 
and local militia — ''National Guards." Paris -gave itself a 
new city government with Bailly (president at. the " tennis- 

1 Although earlier the Bastille had been famous as the prison for wretches held 
at the king's arbitrary pleasure, at this time it contained very few prisoners. 
The place would not have been taken had the governor stood stoutly to his guns, 
but he could hardly induce his few cannoneers to face embattled Paris. 



398 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

court " on the day of the great oath) as its mayor, Lafayette, 
the popular young nobleman, as chief of its national guard. 
It was at this time that the famous tricolor (red, white, and 
blue) ribbons were adopted as the badge of the Revolution. l 

Meanwhile the Assembly had devoted itself to " reforming 
the nation." It was far easier, however, to vote the abolition 
of old abuses than to execute works of constructive statesman- 
ship. On the night of August 4, carried away by a burst of 
generous and truly French enthusiasm, nobles had joined with 
commoners in decreeing the annihilation of practically all the 
old social, financial, and political privileges enjoyed by the 
nobility and clergy. 2 By one great stroke there was ordained 
for all Frenchmen equal rights and equal liberties. 

It was excellent to vote this. It was harder to make bene- 
fits of the revolution seem real to the impatient masses. In 
October, 1789, bread was scarce in Paris; times were hard; 
common report said that the king and especially the queen 
were trying to win over the army officers, doubtless for an 
armed counter-revolution. 3 Another explosion followed. On 
October 5, a mob of thousands of hungry women, joined by 
many disorderly men, tramped through the mire from Paris 
to Versailles and threatened the palace. " Bread, bread, and 
not so many words ! " rang the yell when the astonished Assem- 
bly tried to quiet them with speeches. Lafayette and the 
national guards hastened from Paris to protect the king. There 
was a lull; but early the next day the mob broke into the 

1 The old standard of the French kings was white. To call a man a "white" 
in 1789 was the same as calling him a royalist. 

2 The Assembly had no intention of destroying legitimate property rights. 
The holders of most of these privileges were to be paid by the Government for 
their losses. But in the stormy days that followed, the promised compensation 
usually came to very little. 

3 It is certain that, on October i, a banquet was given at Versailles to various 
influential officers. Remarks insulting to the Assembly were made. The "na- 
tional" toasts were left undrunk; the white cockade, not the tricolor, was worn, 
— while Marie Antoinette mingled with the officers most graciously. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 399 

palace and slew several of the king's gentlemen. Lafayette 
thereupon persuaded Louis, as the only means of preventing 
further rioting, to return to Paris with the whole company. 

" We 've got the baker, and the baker's wife, and the baker's 
boy," howled the loose spirits around the royal coach on its 
way to the metropolis. 

The king was lodged in the Palace of the Tuileries. The 
Assembly soon followed to Paris. Louis was still granted out- 
ward loyalty and ceremony; none the less, he and his queen 
were the prisoners of their increasingly distrustful subjects. 

231. The new constitution. At Paris, subject to the pressure 
of public clamors, the Assembly undertook the work of reor- 
ganizing France. It committed many errors. It had little of 
that long political experience and practical political wisdom 
whereof Anglo-Saxons boast. Many fine propositions were 
entertained which were to prove wholly unpractical. The 
ordinary usages of parliamentary law had to be learned by men 
unaccustomed to free legislatures. The representatives were 
unduly swayed by highly wrought oratory and false sentiment 
when nobly expressed. Yet good sense on the whole prepon- 
derated; and everywhere was sincere patriotism. The results 
were probably all that could have been expected. 

In brief, France was given a new administration. The old 
provinces l (which had fostered decentralization) were replaced 
by eighty- three " departments " based on geographical fea- 
tures. The nation remained nominally a monarchy, but so 
" limited " a monarchy that Louis XIV might well have 
groaned in his grave. The king was left merely as the agent 
for executing the laws. For almost every positive act, he must 
refer to the u Legislative Assembly." This body, chosen every 
two years, was to vote the necessary laws in the future. 2 It 

1 Normandy, Provence, etc. 

2 Probably it would have been wiser to have had tivo houses; — but the French 
took pride in not seeming to imitate the English Parliament. 



4 oo HISTORY OF EUROPE 

was to be composed of a single house of representatives of the 
people. The king could veto its bills, but bills passed by three 
successive legislatures were to be considered laws in spite of 
the king. Of greater significance for the average private person 
was the sweeping legal reform. A whole new judicial system 
was created. Judges were to be elected officials, and no longer 
royal appointees chosen from a special class of the nobility. 
Trial by jury was instituted, and the old mediaeval usages of 
torture and arbitrary imprisonment were abolished. There 
were to be no more endless " imprisonments during the king's 
pleasure," and no more " Bastilles." Again, a uniform system of 
laws was proposed for all' France, in place of the two hundred- 
odd "local customs " which had prevailed, with their varying 
degrees of injustice. And most vital of all was the cardinal fact 
that hereafter all Frenchmen were to be equal before the law, 
— with the same treatment awaiting the nobleman in his gilt- 
laced coat and the peasant in his blue blouse and wooden sabot." 
France thus gained from this " first Revolution" of 1789 
great and undoubted social benefits. Feudalism was destroyed. 
Equal rights for all men were created. These gains were never 
to be lost. For all this a heavy debt of gratitude was due to the 
" Assembly" of this memorable year. But the political part 
of its labors turned out to be far less satisfactory. Most 
Frenchmen, indeed, would have been content with almost any 
form of government, provided it gave them prosperity, law, 
and order; but an active minority were full of discontent. The 
new political system seemed simply outrageous to the old 
noblesse, — they were anxious to make it fail. The ultra- 
radicals, in turn, soon considered it merely a step toward an 
ideally "free" constitution. They could lay hands on one 
feature of the new constitution which especially seemed con- 
trary to all ideas of equality; — to be a voter a man must pay 
taxes equal to three days of ordinary labor. 1 About one person 

1 The exact sum involved would be fixed by the local usage of the region. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 401 

in four (otherwise eligible) was thus disfranchised. The radi- 
cals made great outcry, and the excluded class was sure to be 
offended, turbulent, and irresponsible. Between the reaction- 
aries and the radicals the new constitution was thus certain 
of a speedy trial by fire. 

232. The flight to Varennes. Amid its praiseworthy efforts 
the Assembly made one decisive blunder: it undertook tc 
reform the French Church. No attempt was made to tamper 
with the matters of faith, but many pious Catholics were out- 
raged by the enactment that bishops and cures were henceforth 
to be chosen by the voters like secular officials. Still more 
ill-considered was the vote putting the great property of the 
Church a at the service of the State." The Assembly did, 
indeed, promise a just income to the churchmen whose tithes, 
endowments, and lands were seized. None the less it was an 
ill-considered confiscation, probably entered into because many 
deputies saw in the Church property a convenient mode of 
increasing the public credit without ordering new taxes, and 
because they were indifferent or mildly hostile to the Christian 
religion as they understood it. Many good Catholics now, 
however, turned against the " Revolution " which they had at 
first sustained. The king, a very devout man, felt this stroke 
at his personal religion most keenly. Perhaps it was this un- 
lucky legislation by the Assembly which goaded him (already 
wrathy at other lesser 1 matters) into disastrous action. 

In June, 1791, Louis XVI, disguised as a valet, fled with his 
family from Paris. His aim was to reach the frontier toward 
Germany: once there, his brother-in-law, Emperor Leopold of 
Austria, could be appealed to for a foreign army to restore him 
to his power in France. The scheme for flight had been cleverly 
conceived, but it was most bunglingly executed. At Varennes, 
Louis was discovered and identified. Alarm-bells were soon 
sounding. The townspeople rose and overpowered his escort. 
On July 25, Louis XVI and his queen reentered the Tuileries: 



4 o2 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

this time prisoners in very deed. The flight to Varennes was a 
costly blunder. It announced to all France that the king had no 
heart in the Revolution, and would destroy it if he could. 

233. The new legislature. The Assembly had declared Louis 
suspended from office: but it was not easy to depose him. 
His brothers and most of the other royal princes were hopeless 
reactionaries, and were mostly " emigrants" — i.e., fugitives 
in Germany busy devising a bloody return to France. The 
only alternative was a republic; but most men were not yet 
ready for that. Somewhat lamely the Assembly came to terms 
with the king. Various changes were made in the new constitu- 
tion, making it slightly more acceptable to Louis. There was 
already a considerable faction urging the abolition of monarchy, 
but a strong party headed by Lafayette strove to preserve a 
" moderate" attitude. To their minds the Revolution was 
completed ; the new constitution must be allowed a fair chance 
to work peacefully and to complete the regeneration of France. 
The king finally accepted the constitution with apparent 
heartiness, and was restored to his functions. On September 
30, 1 791, the Assembly dispersed. Just before adjournment it 
enacted a special law which did credit to its own disinteres- 
tedness, but not to its political sagacity. It enacted that no 
member of the Assembly should be eligible to the new regular 
legislature about to gather. All the practical parliamentary 
experience, therefore, acquired by members of the Assem- 
bly was thus to be thrown away. The new legislature must be 
composed of very untried men. 

The Assembly of 1789-91 had striven nobly and patriotically 
for France. Its leaders believed they had created a constitu- 
tion to last for all time. This much-lauded " Constitution of 
1 79 1 " was actually to last less than one year. 

234. The outbreak of war. In reality the new constitution 
never had a genuine chance to prove its ordinary excellences 
and defects. France was about to be embroiled in war with 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 403 

nearly all Europe, while a powerful party at home from the 
first cried out that the new order was only an insufficient 
break with the old. 

The Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia had for 
months regarded the progress of the Revolution with grave 
concern. Political ideas seldom stop at boundaries, and France 
had been the intellectual leader of Europe. Marie Antoinette 
never ceased to write to her imperial kinsfolk at Vienna deplor- 
ing the desperate straits of royalty in France, and entreating 
aid. What a French crown would be worth, if propped up on 
Austrian bayonets, she seems never to have asked. But more 
than mere sympathy for the family in the Tuileries was stir- 
ring the German princes. Various acts of the Assembly had 
affected their own interests adversely. 1 French noble " emi- 
grants," fleeing their homes, flocked to the petty German 
courts and were given hearty welcome, and permission to 
organize conspiracies. On both sides there were hatred, sus- 
picion, recrimination. 

In this atmosphere, charged with the fear of foreign inter- 
vention, the Legislative Assembly met (October 1, 1791). Its 
745 members were mostly inexperienced radicals: its dominat- 
ing element, the later " Girondist" Party, 2 was composed of 
clever and brilliant orators who were fervent democrats in 
principle and regarded the idea of even a devitalized monarchy 
with aversion. They dared not strike at the new constitution 
for the moment, but they were able to bring to pass something 
that they felt would accomplish the same end. They easily 
goaded the king and his ministers into declaring war upon 
Austria. Louis probably assented the more readily because he 
believed that by Austrian victories he was sure to recover his 
power. The radicals saw more wisely that the shock of battle 

1 Especially those declaring abolished various feudal rights within France, 
but retained by German princes whose main dominions lay beyond the borders. 

2 The leading members of the faction — Vergniaud, Gensonne, etc., came from 
the Department of the Gironde. 



4 04 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

would ruin royalty by exposing the king's duplicity. " Let us 
tell Europe," cried the fiery Isnard, "that if cabinets engage 
kings in a war against peoples, we will engage peoples in a war 
against kings." 

Causes were easily found. April 20, 1792, France declared 
war on Austria and a little later on her ally, Prussia ; — and so 
began the war which convulsed all Europe, and lasted with 
brief truces down to 18 15 and the field of Waterloo. 

235. The downfall of French royalty (1792). The past three, 
years had demoralized the French army utterly. Its former 
officers, mostly noblemen, had resigned or deserted by hun- 
dreds. The first results of the warfare were a series of disgrace- 
ful defeats all along the frontier. There was reason for believing 
that the royal family within the Tuileries received the tidings 
of national disaster without unmixed feelings of dismay. The 
whole public administration seemed feeble and incompetent. 
A few weeks promised to see an Austro-Prussian army in Paris. 
In such a moment desperate remedies seemed called for to 
save France. 

In the "Legislative " the Girondists gave certain perfunc- 
tory support to the party which still adhered to the king and 
the constitution, but an ultra-radical faction, the Jacobins, 1 
was prepared for action. During the later part of July and the 
first week of August, 1792, Paris was seething once more. 
Every tale of defeat increased the rage against "Capet" 
(Louis)* and "the Austrian Woman." Not merely Paris, but 
the departments were stirring. From Marseilles came a bat- 
talion of 600 young Republicans, who for the first time made 
the streets of Paris ring with the great fighting song of the 
Revolution, " the Marseillaise, 1 ' the best of all national hymns 
to rouse men to do or die. 
, The climax came August 10. The faction in the Paris city 

1 The "Jacobins" took their name from their club-house at the former con- 
vent of the old Jacobin order of monks. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 405 

government loyal to Louis was overpowered; the armed city 
bands dashed themselves against the Tuileries. Even now, the 
palace might have been defended had not Louis, with an 
untimely act of kind-heartedness, ordered his 950 Swiss guards- 
men to cease firing. The uncouth insurgents surged into the 
hall of the "Legislative," where the king had taken refuge 
with his family. Cowed by manifest threats, the " Legislative " 
decreed the deposition of the king, and the calling of a "Na- 
tional Convention" to decide the future form of government. 
Monarchy had fallen ignobly, not even fighting. 

236. The Convention and the massacres. The rest of France 
ratified the action of Paris. What else could be done, while 
the public enemy was pressing forward victoriously? At the 
moment there was no really lawful government; but the 
" Commune of Paris " (the municipal council of the capital) 
in a measure took its place. Its members, such as Robespierre, 
represented the most advanced theorists of France. All chances 
of a reaction in favor of monarchy were destroyed by the rigor- 
ous enforcement of martial law. Tremendous efforts were put 
forth to stop the advancing Germans. Danton, the great radi- 
cal and the ablest of his party, voiced the unflinching spirit 
with which these new masters of the State confronted the 
foreign danger. "Audacity, and again audacity, and ever 
audacity, and France is saved!" rang his summons. 1 

But Danton was not a man to stop with nice means. The 
prisons of Paris were full of nobles and "Constitutionalists," 2 
who might hope for release and revenge if carelessly guarded. 
"We must make the aristocrats fear," are the sinister words 
imputed to Danton. A gang of ruffians of his party knew 
their business. Between September 2 and 7, over one thousand 

1 Danton was a radical, but rather as a chieftain of the "Mountain," the 
general radical group in the Convention, than as a leading spirit among the 
Jacobins, the ultra-radicals. There was a certain saneness in all that Danton 
did, which marked him off from headlong extremists like Robespierre. 

2 Champions of the defunct constitution of 1791. 



4 o6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

prisoners were taken from the Paris prisons and massacred, 
practically in cold blood. 1 The aristocrats did, indeed, fear. 
Not a hand was raised to stop the massacre. 

And now, late in September, the " Legislative " gave way to 
the third great parliamentary body of the Revolution, — the 
"Convention," — 749 members elected by manhood suffrage, 
at a time when moderate men had been silenced, and when the 
booming of Austrian guns had made almost every Frenchman 
into a radical. The new body had been gathered to give France 
another form of government, the 1791 constitution being 
already cast into the rubbish heap ; but the making of a con- 
stitution was slow work, and there was much needing immedi- 
ate attention. For the next three years the Convention itself 
practically governed France. 

237. The death of the king (1793). Louis XVI, dethroned 
and a prisoner, had yet to be dealt with, and the Girondist fac- 
tion (temporarily in the ascendant in the Convention) were 
inclined toward mercy: their clever orators talked eloquently 
of founding the new republic bloodlessly on "love"; but their 
political cohesion and adroitness was far less than that of the 
Jacobins, who were resolved on the king's death. What better 
proof of the devotion of France for her newly gained "equal- 
ity" than sending Louis to the scaffold? — " Let us," Danton 
exclaimed, " cast down before Europe, as a gauntlet of battle, 
the head of a king! " There could be only one solution to the 
problem in such a moment. On January 8, 1793, Louis was 
ordered of immediate death, by a majority of one vote. 2 
On January 21, he was guillotined on the great square in Paris, 

1 There is no proof, though there is considerable presumption, that these deeds 
were inspired by Danton. 

2 Louis was charged substantially with treason to France in the war against 
Austria and Prussia. There is good reason for believing that he would have 
regarded the victory of the allies with equanimity; but in truth he must be 
judged as a man in an almost intolerable position, from whom any very strict 
moral accounting was impossible. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 407 

the Place de la Concorde; dying very nobly and bravely, and 
making truly a kingly end after a life marked by many good 
intentions but more blunders. 

238. The war with all Europe (1792-95). The execution of 
the king was, indeed, a proclamation to all Europe that a new 
and terrible war had engulfed the nations, a war very different 
from the selfish dynastic struggles between ambitious kings. 
For the moment it had earlier seemed as if the ill-led French 
armies would collapse before the disciplined invaders. But 
good fortune and patriotism had fought for the French. At 
Valmy, after an ineffectual cannonade on September 20, 1792, 
the Duke of Brunswick (the allies' general) found himself 
checked, and presently was driven to retreat. The new Re- 
publican armies soon took the offensive and seized Belgium 
and many posts along the Rhine. A decree thereupon passed 
by the Convention, ordering the annexation of Belgium, gave 
vast offense to England ; l and that great country speedily 
joined in the war. Another decree of the Convention, ordering 
its generals to proclaim the "sovereignty of the people" and 
the abolition of feudal privileges wherever the French arms 
went, seemed the proclamation of an intention of spreading 
" revolutionary principles " through all Europe. The execu- 
tion of Louis drove every brother monarch into a frenzy; 
practically every other Christian state in Europe declared war 
upon France. It appeared inevitable that she should be 
crushed by a vast coalition. She was assailed on every coast, 
on every border at once. 

But in all human annals there is no finer example of patriotic 
self-sacrifice than that which the French now displayed. The 
grim and resolute men who had seized the Paris Government 
developed in this crisis marvelous efficiency. A remorseless 
conscription swept the youth of France into the armies ; f ac- 

1 The English feared that the great port of Antwerp in French hands would 
be a standing menace to their maritime supremacy. 



EUROPE IN 1789. 



Lands added to Prance by the 
Treaty of Basel. 
(What is marked Belgium was part of the 
Austrian Netherlands in 1789, and Holland 
was.properlj, The United Netherlands.) 




4 o8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

tories were turned into arsenals; church bells were melted into 
cannon. The heroism and "elan" of the young French recruits, 
who charged to battle convinced that they were summoned to 
die for "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity' ' and for "the 
Rights of Man," proved more than a match for the ill-paid 
mercenaries of the old-line monarchical armies. The admirable 
fighting qualities of the French privates and sub-officers more 
than made up for frequently mediocre generalship. Above all, 
at Paris there was a great war-minister, Carnot, " the organizer 
of victory," who, though not a great strategist himself, managed 
everything, inspired the fourteen armies,' collected munitions, 
and made the success in the field possible. To summarize 
this colossal war is impossible. By a prodigious exertion the 
Republic actually put 750,000 men, arrayed in thirteen sepa- 
rate armies, in the field at once — forces such as no power in 
Europe had ever armed before. The French were sometimes 
beaten, but never ruined. A coalition greater than that which 
had overwhelmed Louis XIV now recoiled before the patriotism 
of a free nation. In June, 1794, the great battle of Fleurus 
practically delivered Belgium a second time to France 2 and 
put the allies everywhere upon the defensive. Once confronted 
with disaster, the allied kings began to remember their old 
jealousies amongst themselves. The great coalition commenced 
to dissolve. In 1795, Prussia made the Peace of Basel with 
France : Austria and England might continue the war, but the 
fear of a foreign army in Paris was ended. 

239. The Committee of Public Safety and the Terror. While 
the youth of France were defending their country against a 
perfect girdle of foes, terrible scenes were being enacted at 
Paris and elsewhere. The foreign peril, the fears of a cruel 
reaction led by the outraged royalists, seemed to justify plac- 
ing the whole country under a species of martial law. Shortly 

1 The French had been driven from the country after their first successes in 
1792. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



409 



after the execution of the king, the Convention established a 
kind of executive committee, — the famous ''Committee of 
Public Safety," — at first of nine, later of twelve, members, 
to whom were entrusted practically the entire resources of 
France. The ordinary ministers were reduced to insignificance 
beside this body. It became the mainspring of the armed 
Revolution, and it was not long before its members were drawn 




COURTYARD OF A PRISON DURING THE TERROR 

Note the games being played by the prisoners. (After a painting by 
Hubert Robert in the Musee Carnavalet) 

almost wholly from the most radical of all the Republican 
factions — the Jacobins. 

In the name of general safety, the Committee and the Con- 
vention resorted to the most drastic measures. Besides order- 
ing a wholesale conscription for the army, desperate expedi- 
ents were invoked to fend off famine and bankruptcy. There 
was a general scarcity of provisions in Paris. The answer was 
the famous "Law of the Maximum," fixing the highest price 



4 io HISTORY OF EUROPE 

at which necessary commodities might be sold. The penalty 
for violation was, in extreme cases, death. Long since the 
Government had drifted into the meshes of paper money (it 
was so easy to make the printing-press strike off substitutes 
for gold!). To refuse to accept " assignats " (the Revolutionary 
paper currency) was now also made punishable by death. 
Against " emigrants' ' (exiled nobles beyond the frontiers), 
against all men suspected of conspiracy to produce reaction at 
home, there was only one remedy. The exiles might not return 
under penalty of death ; while all persons in France were made 
liable to imprisonment (with excellent chances of execution) 
if " suspected" of ill will toward the Republic. By such laws 
the prisons were filled and disaffection was silenced. . 

At first, indeed, there was discord, in the Convention, 
between the Girondists and the more violent Jacobins. The 
Girondists represented more the deliberate opinion of the 
departments ; the Jacobins found their best support in the noisy 
and irresponsible crowds of Paris, who swarmed the galleries 
of the Convention, howled down the moderate orators, and 
applauded the speakers who declared that "the people were 
weary of having their happiness postponed," and who then 
coolly assumed that the Parisian mob was entitled to speak for 
the entire nation. The Girondists had eloquence and noble 
zeal upon their side, but they were bad politicians and lost 
control both of the Convention and the situation in Paris. 
On June 2, armed insurgents surrounded the hall of the Con- 
vention and the frightened members were coerced into voting 
the leading Girondists under arrest. The radicals had now 
almost complete possession of the Government. 

And now began the famous ' k Reign of Terror." The Jaco- 
bins were no doubt honest in saying that they desired the hap- 
piness of France and a reign of liberty and humanity, but they 
were hopeless radicals, willing to believe tJiemselves the sole 
possessors of patriotism and civic virtue, and that any critic 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 411 

was ipso facto a traitor. In handling the military situation they 
displayed enormous ability ; l in dealing with the economic 
crisis they resorted to the desperate financial measures just 
described; but they knew all the while (though they hardly 
confessed it) that they were really only a minority in France, 
and ever growing more of a minority as their program became 
more radical. At first men had been denounced as " aristo- 
crats," or " constitutionalists "; 2 now they were damned by 
beiDg styled " moderates,'' or charged with " mcivism," i.e., 
opposing or supporting feebly the extreme Jacobin program. 

What that program really embraced was never fully defined. 
Probably it would have ended in the complete establishment of 
economic as well as of political equality for all Frenchmen, and 
certainly in the later stages of the movement the Jacobins 
cried out against the rich, not because they were reactionary, 
but simply because they were rich. " The poor man," spoke 
Robespierre, who seemed to be the mouthpiece for his party, 
" alone is virtuous, wise, and fitted to govern." 

To silence opposition to their regime the Jacobins deliber- 
ately inaugurated a system of " Terror." On October 16, 1793, 
Marie Antoinette followed her husband to the scaffold, facing 
the end with a heroism which partly atoned for many past 
mistakes. Speedily after her, twenty-one of the Girondist 
leaders were executed, and many others of unquestioned zeal 
for a moderate republic followed them. A " Revolutionary 
Tribunal " was set up, before which each day a certain number 
of wretches were dragged from the prisons and condemned 
(or in exceptional cases acquitted) after farcically irregular 
trials. 

From October, 1793, to the end of July, 1794, " Terror was 
the Order of the Day," in Paris; and similar awful tribunals 
kept up their work in many of the provincial towns. Under 

1 See section 238. 

2 Partisans of the 1791 constitution. 



412 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



the guillotine J perished several thousands of the best lives in 
France; for it was the intelligent and well-to-do who naturally 
awakened the most suspicion. 'O Liberty, what crimes are 
committed in thy name! " so cried the high-minded Madame 
Roland, an ardent Republican and Girondist when she stood 
to take her place at the guillotine. Yet all the while the 
Jacobin chiefs and many of their satellites in the Parisian mob 




THE GUILLOTINE AT WORK 
Note the statue of liberty opposite the instrument. (After an anony- 
mous engraving) 

believed quite honestly that by this remorseless policy they 
were leading France to happiness. 

240. The revolts against the Jacobins. The fearful energy 
of the Jacobins will be better understood when it is realized 
that, besides the foreign war, at the same time they had to fight 
desperate rebellions within France. Many Girondist deputies 
did not submit to arrest with their fellows, but escaped to their 

1 The guillotine was a mechanical device invented at this time to take the 
place of the old headsman's block and axe. Despite the gruesome mutilation of 
the victim, it was an extremely humane and painless instrument. "The Repub- 
lican Razor," it was called by the calloused creatures who daily watched the 
public butcheries. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 413 

homes in the departments and organized revolts. The Jacobins 
had to stamp out uprisings in Normandy and in the extreme 
south, while Lyons (the second city of France) also rose against 
them. A fearful punishment was inflicted when it was forced to 
surrender. A military commission condemned the numerous 
prisoners taken, and is asserted to have had them shot down in 
batches of 200 to 300 at a time. In five months the population 
of Lyons is declared to have fallen from 130,000 to 80,000. 1 
But hardest of all for the Jacobins was the revolt of the Peas- 
ants in La Vendee, 2 who, pious, conservative, and led by their 
priests, waged a desperate guerilla war in behalf of the king. 
The Vendean rebels were still in revolt when the Jacobins were 
cast from power at Paris. 

241. The fall of Danton, and the dictatorship of Robespierre. 
In 1789, the great majority of Frenchmen had rejoiced in the 
downfall of despotism; in 1792, probably less than half of the 
nation was really enthusiastic for a republic; by 1794, only a 
waning minority were in favor of the Jacobin program, which 
virtually branded every man with good clothes and refined 
social manners as a " bad citizen." The Jacobin leaders of the 
Convention had run to hopeless absurdities. 3 They had abol- 
ished the accustomed calendar as a souvenir of "the days of 
despotism," and established a new " Republican Calendar " 
with the year "one" to date from the era (1792) when France 

1 Recent criticism happily has seemed to reduce the number of the victims, 
but in any case they were hideously numerous. 

2 The region near the mouth of the Loire. 

3 Amid all the storm and stress under which it labored, and despite many 
absurd pieces of legislation, it must, in fairness, be noted that the Convention 
enacted a great body of wise measures which told for the weal of France; — some 
of these were, (1) the adoption of the metric system of weights and measures; 
(2) the beginning of drawing up a legal code (a task to be completed by Napo- 
leon); (3) the abolition of slavery in the French colonies; (4) the initiation of 
a general system of education for France; (5) a much-needed reform of the hos- 
pitals and prisons. 

It is very easy to find materials for extreme blame and extreme praise in deal- 
ing with the leaders of "the First Republic." 



4 i4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

became a republic. 1 Against the Christian religion, as part of 
the old order of "slavery," the bitterest hostility was shown. 
It had become practically impossible to attend or to minis- 
ter in Christian worship and not become at least " suspect." 
Frenchmen could not endure these conditions forever. The 
foreign enemy had been repelled from the frontiers : it was high 
time to end this terrible regime of martial law at home. 

Under these circumstances, some of the clearest and coolest 
heads among the original Terrorists, notably Danton, began to 
talk of moderation; but "moderation" was a very unwelcome 
word to the extreme theorists who now controlled the Com- 
mittee of Public Safety, and at whose bidding the frightened 
Convention voted one bloody decree after another. In April, 
1794, Robespierre, seemingly, at least, the dominator of the 
Government, struck a blow which told all France that the 
mere suggestion of abating the activities of the guillotine was 
perilous. Danton — the incarnation of aggressive Republican- 
ism — was sent to the scaffold. For the next four months 
Robespierre seemed the virtual dictator of France. A consid- 
erable fraction of the Paris mob was willing to defend him; 
otherwise he was submitted to out of mere physical terror. 
France seemed to have abolished her stately old monarchy to 
substitute for it a ruthless Oriental tyranny. 

242. The downfall of Robespierre. Robespierre was himself 
a strange compound of infirmity and virtue. He made boasts, 
probably sincere, of his patriotism, incorruptibility, and high 
ideals. He and his friend, Saint- Just, dreamed of a republic in 
which all men and women should be happy, virtuous, and 
equal. Christianity was to be abolished, but temples to the 
" Supreme Being " were to abound everywhere. In this 
program were many noble theories and projects derived from 

1 The months were named according to their climatic characteristics; e.g., 
Thermidor (heat month) took the place of July 19 to August 18. To get rid of 
the "slave-style" Christian Sabbaths, periods of ten days were substituted for 
weeks, the tenth day to be a general holiday. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 415 

the old Greek philosophers. Robespierre, in short, would have 
been a harmless, impractical philanthropist, save for two 
capital facts, — he appeared to dominate the French Govern- 
ment, and he believed that any person who hesitated in the 
least before his program was worthy of death. The best wit- 
ness to the fearful nature of his rule is the fact that in seven 
weeks during his alleged dictatorship, 1376 persons died under 
the guillotine in Paris. 1 The amazing thing, indeed, is that a 
theorist of this kind should have seemed to control a great 
Government for so long a time. 

The end drew near when even Robespierre's most intimate 
associates began to fear for their own lives. On the 8th of 
June, 1794, the arch- Jacobin had reached the crowning moment 
of his career. At his demand the Convention had voted that 
" the French nation recognizes the existence of the Supreme 
Being and the immortality of the soul." Now, in a great fete 
to the Supreme Being, Robespierre walked first in the proces- 
sion as president of the ceremonies, "dressed in a sky-blue 
coat and holding in his hand a large bunch of flowers, fruit, and 
corn." Acting thus as a kind of high priest, he set fire to 
effigies representing " Atheism" and "Egoism," while, as they 
blazed, a figure of "Wisdom" rose out of the flames, "Re- 
publican " hymns were sung, and the ground was scattered 
over with flowers by children : — and the next day the guillo- 
tine continued its work. 

By this time the . Revolutionary Tribunal had become a 
mere organ for ordering the execution of so many prisoners 
per day, with hardly the simulacrum of a trial. No man's life 
was now safe; and at length the Convention turned suddenly 
at bay, made brave by selfish fear. On July 27, 1794, long 
recorded as the famous " 9th Thermidor," Saint- Just, and next 

1 There is a theory, which is finding increasing acceptance among scholars, 
that Robespierre was really the tool of the " strong silent men" managing the 
armies, who found the Terror a convenient means of controlling the military 
situation. 



4 i6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

his bosom friend, Robespierre, were howled down in the Con- 
vention when they strove to speak. 

"Down, down with the tyrant!" pealed the yell. Vainly 
Robespierre pleaded to be heard. "The blood of Danton 
chokes thee! " one member is said to have flung at him. With 
three friends the fallen dictator was placed under arrest: the 
old Jacobin faction among the Paris mob released them from 
prison, but before they could organize an insurrection, they 
were again seized, and the end came quickly. Robespierre 
died under the guillotine, with a hundred of his partisans. With 
this last slaughter of its instigators the real "Terror " slackened 
and declined. 

243. The " Third" Constitution and the whiff of grapeshot 
(WQS)- France needed rest. It was impossible to restore nor- 
mal conditions immediately: war still raged on the frontiers; a 
thousand local feuds rent every town and hamlet asunder; but 
the wholesale executions could at least be stopped, 1 and the 
prisons presently were emptied of all but the probably guilty. 

The Convention was now again dominated by moderate 
Republicans. Various outlawed members of the old Girondist 
Party returned. During the Terrorist period a constitution 
had been drawn up for the country, but it had never been put 
into effect, and now it seemed altogether too radical in the 
light of woeful experience. Accordingly still another constitu- 
tion was prepared, the so called " Third " Constitution, 2 and 
while not an ideal document it betrayed at least some attempt 
to improve the lessons learned in the school of adversity. For 
example, besides a list of the " Rights of Man," so much 
emphasized earlier, a list was also given of the " Duties of 
Man "; also a fairly firm executive government was provided 

1 The historian Taine has reckoned, it is to be hoped with some exaggeration, 
that 17,000 persons perished in France, in Paris or in the Departments, during 
the whole period of Terrorist Government. 

2 The constitution of 1791 was the "First"; the "Second" was the discarded 
Jacobin effort. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 417 

in a Directory of five persons, one member to retire every year, 
and thus the whole to be renewed every five years. 1 There was 
to be a legislature of two houses, the "Five Hundred" and 
the " Ancients" 2 (250 members), each to be renewed by one 
third of their number annually. The Legislature was to en- 
act the laws; the Directors (who had no veto) were to exe- 
cute them, to control the armies, and transact generally the 
affairs of Government through their ministers. 

This constitution was not an impossible one, but it was 
coupled with a proviso which drove many Frenchmen to fury. 
A great reaction was sweeping over the land. The Conven- 
tion knew there was a strong movement to restore the exiled 
Bourbons. 3 To insure against a reactionary revolution, it was 
provided that two thirds of the first legislature, under the new 
scheme, must be chosen from the members of the Convention. 

It was this provision which put Paris again in an uproar. 
The downfall of Robespierre had been followed by a great 
return of royalist spirit. In very many quarters the idea of 
even a moderate republic was now held in open detestation. 
The reactionaries had prospered so far as to gain control of the 
Paris National Guard, and on October 5, 1795, its battalions, 
20,000 strong, were directed against the hall of the hated 
Convention. To check this attack the delegates had only 
about 4000 regular troops, 4 but they entrusted the command 
to an active fellow member, B arras. The latter bethought him 
of the aid of a young artillery officer who had recently distin- 

1 The Directors were to be elected by the "Ancients" out of a list submitted 
by the "Five Hundred." 

2 They had to be forty years of age. 

3 The luckless little son of Louis XVI, the so-called "Louis XVII," died in 
captivity in Paris, June 8, 1795. The cruel neglect whereof this helpless boy of 
ten was the victim is one of the foulest blots upon the Revolutionists. The 
successor to the royalist claims was now the eldest brother of Louis XVI, who 
took the style of "Louis XVIII." 

4 In the regular army, in which ardent Republicans naturally enlisted, anti- 
royalist sentiments burned hot, long after they had ceased to glow in the rest of 
France. 



4 i8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

guished himself against the English at the siege of Toulon. 
This young man hastily secured a strong battery of guns from 
the suburbs, and disposed and used it so well that the insur- 
gents were mowed down helplessly when they strove to storm 
the Convention. " The whiff of grapeshot " was sufficient. 
The delegates and the Republic were saved. The name of 
their savior was Napoleon Bonaparte. 

REVIEW 

i. Topics — The States General; Cahiers; Abbe Sieves; the Oath of the 
Tennis-Court ; Mirabeau; the Bastille; National Guards; Yarennes; 
"Emigrants"; Girondists; Jacobins; Commune of Paris; Robespierre; 
Danton; Valmy; Carnot; Committee of Public Safety; Law of the 
Maximum; Assignats; Reign of Terror; Incivism; 9th Thermidor; 
the "Whiff of Grapeshot." 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Versailles; Varennes; Marseilles; Valmy; Lyons; La 
Vendee. 

(b) Mark the regions added to France by the Peace of Basel. 

3. What was the immediate occasion of the summoning of the States 
General? 

4. Note the different events in the Revolution which go to prove that 
there was "little previous political experience" in France. 

5. Why did not the king dissolve the States General after the "Royal 
Session" on June 23? Compare his motive with that of Charles I of 
England in relation to the Long Parliament. 

6. Why was the destruction of the Bastille significant? 

7. What were the important features in which the constitutions of 1791 
and 1795 differed? 

8. How did the attempt to reform the Church affect the "Revolution" 
movement? Compare with the effect of the attack upon the Episcopal 
Church made in the Long Parliament in England. 

9. Valmy is counted as one of the "decisive battles" by Creasy. Why? 
10. Why was it that conditions similar to the "Reign of Terror" did not 

develop in England after the execution of Charles I? 

EXERCISES 

1. Compare the principles stated in the "Declaration of the Rights of 
Man" (1789) with corresponding principles in the " Virginia Bill of 
Rights" (United States, 1776). 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 419 

2. Mirabeau. 

3. The Bastille. 

4. Lafayette. 

5. The night of August 4. 

6. The Constitution of 1791. 

7. The September massacres. 

8. The execution of Louis XVI. Was it justified ? Compare with that of 
Charles I of England. 

9. The battle of Yalmy. 

10. The Peace of Basel. 

11. The Reign of Terror. 

12. Danton and Robespierre. 

13. Make a summary showing the social, economic, and political changes 
accomplished by the Revolution. 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 394-417. 

Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 106-49. Duruy: pp. 535-65. Lodge: 

chapters xxn, xxni, sections 1-20. Pattison: pp. 358-62. Lewis: pp. 

548-57. Robinson and Beard: vol. 1, pp. 224-84. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

HOW NAPOLEON BONAPARTE OVERTURNED THE OLD 
EUROPE 

244. The youth and early career of Napoleon. For the next 
twenty years the history of Europe can almost be summed up 
in the biography of a single man. No other secular individual 
in modern times 1 has cast his shadow so broadly over the 
nations as did Napoleon Bonaparte. He has been lauded as a 
demigod ; he has been execrated as a fiend ; but neither friends 
nor detractors have denied to him the unique position he holds 
in modern history. 

Napoleon Bonaparte is commonly spoken of as a French- 
man. As a matter of fact, he came from the decidedly Italian- 
ized isle of Corsica. In 1 768, the weak Republic of Genoa ceded 
Corsica to France; and in 1769, Napoleon was born at Ajaccio. 
We can best understand his character by thinking of him as 
being only a Frenchman by adoption, and of having in him 
much of the passionate, violent, imaginative spirit and genius 
of the Mediterranean peoples. 

Napoleon's parents seem to have been of respectable but not 
wealthy condition. 2 The lad early betrayed a liking for mili- 
tary matters; and after he had learned a little French he was 
sent to the mainland, to the military academy at Brienne 
(1779). His life there was unhappy and undistinguished, and 
he complained bitterly of the way the sons of rich French 
noblemen lorded it over him. In time, he became a second 
lieutenant in the army, but his first real activities were in an 

1 Nor in ancient times, except possibly Alexander and Julius Caesar. 

2 His father, Carlo Bonaparte, boasted himself a nobleman, and busied him- 
self as a lawyer of some local importance. 



BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 421 

obscure attempt to participate in an insurrection of the 
Corsicans against the French. The plot failed; but though 
Bonaparte luckily was not quite compromised enough to be 
branded as a traitor, every avenue to promotion seemed barred 
against him. In 1793, however, he had command of the artil- 
lery in the siege of Toulon, and it was then, thanks to him, 
that the British fleet was driven from the harbor and a most 
important city restored to France. Now (1796) the grateful 
Directory, after his services in Paris, 1 gave him command of 
the Army of Italy. The discontented cadet had at length met 
his opportunity. He was only twenty-seven. 

245. The "First Italian Campaign" (1796-97). Italy was 
a congeries of petty states, but the main factors were the 
Kingdom of Sardinia 2 (nearest to France) and the provinces of 
Austria. Bonaparte was given the task of taking a relatively 
small and disorganized army, crossing the Alps, forcing the 
Sardinians to beg for peace, and then of driving the Austrians 
out of Italy as well as intimidating simultaneously the Papal 
States and all the other lesser Powers which might take sides 
against France. 

Once entrusted with the task, the young artillery officer dis- 
played a superabounding energy; and — secret of his success — 
was able to communicate his spirit of energy to all about him. 
Veteran officers ceased to sneer at the "youth," and strove 
their uttermost to execute his orders. The whole army was 
infused with his spirit of restless daring and ambition. Of all 
Bonaparte's military undertakings, none was more successful 
or more characteristic than this " First Italian Campaign." 

With 49,000 men, badly equipped but brave and hardy, 
Bonaparte had to cross the Alps and attack some 60,000 
Sardinian and Austrian veterans, resting in strong positions 

1 See chapter xxxn, section 243. 

2 For the extent of the King of Sardinia's dominions on the mainland, see map 
of "Europe in 1789." 



422 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



sustained by great fortresses. In April, 1796, he entered Italy. 
Within two months the King of Sardinia had cried " enough." 
Within a year mighty Austria had also been driven to sue for 




ITALY in 1798 

peace. At the outset Bonaparte had fired the hearts of his men 
by the kind of promises dear to his ragged Republican volun- 
teers. "Soldiers, I am to lead you into the most fertile plains 
in the world. There you will find honor, glory, and riches "; 



BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 423 

and immediately he had put into effect his four great military 
maxims: "Divide for finding provisions; concentrate to fight; 
unity of command is necessary for success; time 1 is every- 
thing." 

Briefly stated, Bonaparte won his successes by always taking 
the offensive and keeping his foes so busy meeting the shock 
of his blows that they were utterly unable to arrange a counter- 
stroke; or again, by inducing them to divide their forces 
while keeping his own concentrated, and so destroying the 
enemy piecemeal. In addition Bonaparte owed a vast deal to 
the admirable fighting qualities of his men. The spirit of 
Republican fanaticism which had led to the Jacobin Terror at 
Paris made now for dauntless heroism when translated to the 
battlefield. And Bonaparte knew how to win the hearts and 
imaginations of his men as have few generals, as at Lodi (1796), 
where the desperate and victorious charge in which he rushed 
with the foremost across the bridge over the Adda made a the 
little corporal" the idol of the soldiery. 

In the spring of 1797, after desperate fighting around 
Mantua (the Austrian stronghold) and the fall of that fortress, 
Bonaparte was able to force his way over the Eastern Alps, 
and was only two days' march from Vienna when the defeated 
" Holy Roman" Emperor asked for an armistice. 

246. The Treaty of Campo Formio (1797). After various 
negotiations France made peace with Austria by the Treaty of 
Campo Formio. That compact was substantially arranged and 
directed by Bonaparte, despite the fact that he was nominally 
only a general in the service of the five Directors. The treaty 
was practically a notification to the world that Republican 
France had shaken off the tremendous attack of the old mon- 
archies and was now about to give the law in turn to them. 
Austria ceded Belgium outright to France. She gave up her 
North Italian possessions to be made into a " Cisalpine 

1 That is, rapidity of movements. 



4 2 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Republic" (inevitably dependent upon France). In a secret 
article she agreed to allow France to keep the territory west of 
the Rhine which she had seized from the lesser German princes. 
As a compensation for these great losses, Austria was to receive 
the territory of the old (and now degenerate and feeble) 
Republic of Venice, which was thus blotted from the map. 1 

247. The naval power of England. The defeat of Austria 
seemed to put all Europe at the feet of France and her brilliant 
young general, who was already recognized as a political power 
of whom the Directors might well feel jealous. But there was 
one nation which the French had not yet defeated — England; 
and a large part of Bonaparte's career was to be consumed in a 
fruitless effort to humble the " Mistress of the Seas." 

The Revolution had disorganized the French navy sadly. 
Courage and enthusiasm may win bayonet charges in land 
battles, though discipline be lacking, but calm skill and care- 
ful organization are absolutely necessary for the conduct of 
fleets. Ill-equipped, ill-manned, and very ill-commanded as the 
French ships were, it is not surprising that the story of the 
naval war between France and England was one story of French 
defeats. By 1797, Spain and Holland had been induced to enter 
into alliance with France against the English, but even this 
could not turn the scale. Off Cape St. Vincent (1797) fifteen 
British ships-of-the-line, under Admiral Jervis and Commo- 
dore Nelson, defeated twenty-seven Spanish men-of-war. Six 
months later, Admiral Duncan overwhelmed a Dutch fleet at 
Camperdown. After these battles it seemed impossible to dis- 
pute British naval supremacy. The sea-power of Britain en- 
abled her to seize the colonies of France, to raid her coasts, 
to capture her merchantmen, and to draw a line of blockaders 

1 In 1797, after making the armistice with Austria, Bonaparte had deliber- 
ately picked a quarrel with Venice and forced its helpless Government to sur- 
render the city and country to France. He now used Venice as a sop to throw to 
Austria. This is an early instance of the lack of scruple and the immorality 
which marked Bonaparte's statecraft. 



BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 425 



around her ports, ruining French commerce. The failure of 
the Republic to meet the English upon the seas left English 
commerce (and consequently English wealth) practically un- 
touched. As a result, although the English army did not seem 
dangerous, English subsidies put heart into the enemies of 
France on the Continent, created new combinations of Powers 
against her; in short, undid half the work of Bonaparte's 
victories. 

If the triumph of France was to be complete, she must at 
all costs humiliate England. 

248. The Egyptian Expedition (1798-99). Bonaparte had 
returned to Paris from Italy to be received with all the ardent 
enthusiasm which rejoicing French- 
men can show for a hero. " Go cap- 
ture the giant corsair [England] that 
infests the seas! " cried Barras, the 
Director, when he embraced him. 
And, indeed, the mediocre Directors 
would gladly have sent him away 
on some distant and risky enterprise. 
There was not room in the Paris 
Government offices for one man so 
great as he and five men so small as 
they. 

Bonaparte was like-minded with 
them — that the real foe of France 
was England. But Bonaparte had 
also much of the dreamer and the 
adventurer in his make-up. The 
strength of England was in her commerce, largely in the 
vast wealth she drew from India. Would not the seizure of 
Egypt put France squarely across the best road to India, 1 and 

1 The regular route to India was, of course, at this time (seventy-one years 
before the opening of the Suez Canal) via the long voyage around the Cape of 




A FRENCH INFANTRYMAN 

{After a contemporary engraving) 



426 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

with a firm grip on Egypt would not the conquest of the golden 
Indies be inevitable? The project appealed to Bonaparte. 
While peace lasted with Austria and Prussia, there was little 
chance for him to use his talents nearer home; and the Direc- 
tors willingly aided him to assemble warships and transports 
for a romantic expedition to Egypt. 

With 35,000 men he sailed from Toulon. By good fortune 
he evaded the English fleet waiting to waylay him. On the 
voyage he seized Malta from its possessors, the helpless Knights 
of St. John. Arriving at Alexandria, he disembarked, and the 
disciplined valor of the French easily overcame the resistance 
of the Mamelukes, the Mohammedan rulers of Egypt. The 
country was soon in his hands, and Bonaparte showed his 
ability and versatility in dealing with the Moslem sheiks, win- 
ning their good will, and even affecting a half-readiness to 
support the doctrines of Islam. He had not been long, how- 
ever, in Egypt ere a great disaster overtook him. The English 
destroyed his fighting fleet. 

Nelson had been cruising the Mediterranean with his 
squadron, seeking the French battleships. Bad information 
and head winds had hitherto baffled him. Now he discovered 
the French anchored in Aboukir Bay, 1 in shoal water and 
seemingly well protected by the land. But with a calculating 
daring that proved him the prince of British seamen, Nelson 
ran his ships through the shoals and laid them alongside the 
French. Numerically the forces were about equal; but the 
English had caught their enemies anchored and nigh helpless. 
Nearly the whole French fleet was destroyed, and Bonaparte's 
expedition was crippled. 

"We are condemned to do something great! " declared the 
French general on hearing the news. He led his men into the 

Good Hope, but the strategic value and commercial possibilities of Egypt were 
entirely recognized. Bonaparte had already conceived the idea of a Suez Canal, 
and carried instructions with him from France to create such a canal if possible. 
1 This battle is also often called "the battle of the Nile." 



BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 427 



Turkish province of Palestine, won victories, but failed to 
make any real conquests. Presently news reached him from 
France which caused him to forsake his army, and escape on 
one of his remaining frigates homeward. 1 

249. Napoleon First Consul (1 799-1 804). The Government 
of the Directory had not been an absolute failure; but it had 
been only a very moderate success. 
Twice the Directors had quarreled 
amongst themselves, and the major- 
ity had expelled the minority. Their 
regime was very unpopular, and not 
without blunders. In 1799, they 
found most of Europe again in co- 
alition against them, the so-called 
" Second Coalition " (Russia, Aus- 
tria, England, Turkey, Naples, Por- 
tugal). In the campaigns that fol- 
lowed, the French won several vic- 
tories, but there was no Bonaparte 
present to guarantee continual suc- 
cess. France was somewhat upon 
the defensive, when Bonaparte landed 
again from Egypt (October 9, 1799). 

The time was ripe for a bold stroke, 
and the ambitious Corsican was no 
man to hesitate. The Directory was hated for its inefficiency 
and tyranny: it was also at open variance with the Legisla- 
ture. Three of the Directors actually connived at the final 
deed which was the upshot of the intrigues into which 
Bonaparte had plunged after his return to Paris. On No- 
vember n, 1799, the " Council of Five Hundred" was broken 




A FRENCH DRAGOON OF THE 
TIME OF THE CONSULATE 
(After a water-color by General 

Lejeune) 



1 The army which he thus abandoned, somewhat ingloriously, held out in 
Egypt until 1801, when an English force compelled it to surrender. Bonaparte, 
however, had taken the majority of his best generals back to France with him. 



428 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

up by the bayonets of Bonaparte's devoted grenadiers. The 
" Ancients" concurred now in a proposal to appoint a new 
provisional government. The result was another constitution 
for France; 1 a constitution which still kept the name and 
simulacrum of a " republic," while in fact it was a disguised 
monarchy. There was to be a carefully hampered legislature 
elected in a most cumbersome and indirect method by a form 
of popular vote; there was to be a " Senate " of eighty (nomi- 
nated by the " Consuls," not elected), with certain supervising 
powers; but practically the entire Government was vested in 
the First Consul, 2 chosen for ten years and master of all the 
resources of the State in peace and war. " Citizens," ran 
the first proclamation of the new regime, " the Revolution is 
finished. 1 ' 

The finisher and the new " First Consul " was, of course, 
Napoleon Bonaparte. 

250. The end of the Holy Roman Empire. France was 
weary of revolutions and new constitutions. For the moment, 
at least, the nation seemed content to forget radical theo- 
ries and to settle down under the sway of a victorious and 
almost fearfully intelligent dictator. The First Consul threw 
all his energies into ending the new war with Austria. Again he 
invaded Italy and won a new triumph at Marengo (1800). In 
Germany, the French general, Moreau, won a still more decisive 
victory at Hohenlinden. 3 Once more Austria and most of her 

1 The "Fourth Constitution," officially known as the "Constitution of the 
Year VIII." 

2 The Second and Third Consuls were ornamental creatures with consultative 
functions only. — "Who shall preside? " asked Sieyes (the provisional second 
consul) at the first meeting of the three. " Do you not see the general is in 
the chair? " replied the third consul. That same night Sieyes remarked to 
his friends, " Gentlemen ! we have a master." 

3 Bonaparte regarded this victory won by a lieutenant most jealously. All the 
real glories must go to himself alone. In 1804, Moreau was accused of sharing 
in a plot to overturn the Government, and was driven into exile. For a while 
he resided in America, but in 1813, returned to Europe, took service with the 
Russians, and was killed in the battle of Dresden. 



BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 429 

allies were humbled. The Peace of Luneville (1801) not merely 
confirmed the pact of Campo Formio, but practically destroyed 
the old "Holy Roman Empire." Twenty-five thousand square 
miles of once Germanic territory were now ceded to France 
with their 3,500,000 inhabitants. 1 Austria also recognized the 
existence of the Batavian (Dutch), Helvetian (Swiss), and 
Ligurian and Cisalpine (North Italian) Republics, — feeble 
countries absolutely dominated by France. Bonaparte had, 
indeed, advanced far on his task of wrecking the old institu- 
tions of Europe. The Revolution in France might be ended: 
outside of France, it had hardly been begun. 

In 1802, England and France made the Peace of Amiens 
practically on the basis of the status quo. 2 It was a truce rather 
than a peace : there were many points left at issue, and every- 
thing pointed to a new war; but for the moment it untied 
Bonaparte's hands, and left him free to prosecute ambitious 
schemes on the Continent and in the French colonies. 

In no country was his influence felt more than in Germany. 
The princes who had lost lands to France had been promised 
compensation nearer home. Bonaparte sustained them in one 
of the most famous spoliations in history. In February, 1803, 
after two years of negotiations in which the German diplomats 
vied with one another in shameful subservience to French 
threats and French suggestions, the famous " Enactment of 
the Delegates of the Empire " was proclaimed. 3 Nearly all the 
lesser German principalities, including nearly all the prince- 
bishoprics and forty-two of the forty-eight "Free Cities," 
were abolished, their lands to be absorbed by their greater 
neighbors. 4 A few of the petty states escaped annihilation by 

1 This included Belgium, to which Austria had waived her claims in 1797. 

2 Several French islands which the English had seized were, however, to be 
restored. 

3 This enactment is known officially by the fearful and wonderful German 
name of "Reichsdeputationshauptschluss." 

4 This process of seizure and confiscation was given the innocent name of 



43 o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

good luck or good management ; certain of the greater states — 
e.g., Bavaria and Baden — received a disproportionate share 
of the spoils; but in any case the map of Germany was wholly 
remade. This new Germany was wholly dependent for its form 
and existence upon Napoleon. The Emperor Francis at Vienna, 
however, continued to call himself "Holy Roman Emperor" 
until 1806, when he wisely dropped the title for that of heredi- 
tary " Emperor of Austria," claiming the Hapsburg dominion 
only. 1 The Empire of Charlemagne and Otto I had met a dis- 
honored end. 

251. Napoleon, Emperor of the French. December 2, 1804, 
saw a great spectacle in Paris. Every event since the establish- 
ment of the " Consulate " had pointed the way to it. Bona- 
parte exchanged his dictatorship for an imperial crown. By the 
formality of a popular election (3,572,329 to 2569 ran the vote 
as announced), the" French Republic " became an "Empire " ; 
with Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, its hereditary mon- 
arch. There were some forms of popular government retained: 
a legislature with highly restrained functions; and an occa- 
sional chance for the citizens to cast a vote; nevertheless, for 
all effective purposes, Napoleon, as we shall henceforth call 
him, was as absolute as Louis XIV. 

At his coronation the Pope had been a guest of honor, but 
Napoleon had placed the crown upon his own head, and with 
his own hands crowned his wife, Josephine, empress. His title 
to sovereignty was to rest on his own genius and the favor of 
his army, not on the confirmation of any hierarch. 

In the very city and land, where ten years earlier Jacobinism 
had been rampant, was now set up a magnificent court. The 
brothers and sisters of the poor cadet from Corsica were to be 

" Mediatization " (i.e., placing in a dependent position). The unlucky "media- 
tized" princes kept their private fortunes and social status, but lost all govern- 
mental status and powers. 

1 This change took place after the disastrous war with France in 1805 (see 
section 252), which gave a final blow to the decrepit "Holy Roman Empire." 



BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 431 

kings and queens of dependent nations. His marshals and gen- 
erals became princes and dukes. Napoleon knew how splendor 
and glitter could appeal to the French, and that the bulk of 
the population had never been really fond of the Republic. 
" You Frenchmen love monarchy. It is the only Government 
you really like," he remarked; and he took pains that for long 
his subjects should forget to discuss " Liberty," amid a surfeit 
of the "Glory" so dear to all their race. 

For a number of years the " First Empire " was a tremen- 
dous success, and Napoleon the most popular of mortals. 
Only after a long time did the illusion vanish, the fearful cost 
of this " glory" become evident, and France begin to repent 
that she had committed her ways into the keeping of this' ter- 
rible Titan. 

252. Trafalgar and Austerlitz (1805). The new dynasty was 
soon to have its baptism of fire. The peace with England had 
already ended in new warfare (1803). 1 Now "British gold" 
had fostered by 1805 a new alliance, the " Third Coalition," 
against Napoleon. England, Russia, Austria, Sweden, all 
banded together to "restore" the "Balance of Power" in 
Europe, so sorely dislocated by this French colossus. Prussia 
kept sullenly neutral; Spain (feeble and decadent) was allied 
with France; nevertheless, the odds against Napoleon seemed 
heavy. The subsequent campaign, however, was to demon- 
strate that the " Emperor of the French " was no less formid- 
able than the " General of the Republic." 

In one great quarter, however, Napoleon was to receive 
humiliation. Since 1803, he had dreamed of invading England. 
If he once could land a few corps of his veterans on British 
soil, he would have " perfidious Albion " upon her knees. To 

1 Each side had charged the other with failing to observe the provisos of the 
Treaty of Amiens — and each side had been right. Between a jealous commer- 
cial nation like England, and a politician and warrior of the overweening ambi- 
tion of Napoleon, no real peace was, indeed, possible. One or the other must 
needs be ruined. 




w ft. 



BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 433 

this end he had collected a great flotilla of flatboats in the Brit- 
ish Channel, to ferry across his army, some lucky day when 
King George's fleet had been decoyed out to sea or had been 
shattered in a great battle. That moment never came, and in 
1805, Napoleon was glad to divert the, " Grand Army" he had 
assembled for England to the war in Austria. But his French 
battle-fleet, under the brave but not over-competent Admiral 
Villeneuve, had joined the allied Spanish squadron; and this 
united force of thirty- three battleships on October 21, 1806, 
met twenty-seven English battleships off Cape Trafalgar, on 
the coast of Spain. " England expects every man to do his 
duty ! " had been Nelson's last signal ere his flagship, the 
Victory, charged through the hostile line. Nelson perished, 
but not before his fleet had won a complete success. Twenty 
French and Spanish ships were taken or sunk. Never had 
British seamanship and courage been better vindicated. Her 
" wooden walls" made England secure henceforth against all 
the hosts of Napoleon. 

Yet, almost simultaneously with this humiliation, came two 
of Napoleon's greatest land successes. Never had his move- 
ments been more rapid or precise; his blows struck to deadlier 
purpose. October 17, 1805, saw the Austrian general, Mack, 
surrendering Ulm (in Bavaria) with 30,000 men. The French 
marched in triumph into Vienna. When the demoralized 
Austrians had been reinforced by the Russians under Czar 
Alexander, Napoleon won his most brilliant and decisive vic- 
tory. At Austerlitz (December 2), in the" Battle of the Three 
Emperors," the French swept the allies from the field in rout. 
Austria could resist no more. The Peace of Pressburg tore 
from her Venetia, which went to Napoleon's new dependent 
" Kingdom of Italy," and nearer home she had to make large 
concessions to Bavaria. Russia and England were still hostile, 
but they were distant or across the seas. Napoleon seemed 
in a position of unchallenged supremacy. 



434 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

253. The humiliation of Prussia (1806-07). One great 
Power had held back from the "Third Coalition" — Prussia. 
With her aid the allies might have tipped the scale against 
France. Her king, Frederick William III, was a well-inten- 
tioned but heavy, unimaginative man without a spark of 
genius. He was surrounded by very incompetent and self- 
willed ministers. Since 1795, Prussia had been at peace with 
France, and superficially had prospered. Her army was full 
of superannuated officers who prided themselves on memories 
of Frederick the Great's exploits, but who had failed to make 
the least progress in the art of warfare since his death. Semi- 
feudal conditions obtained in many parts of the kingdom. 
The people seemed sluggish, unmodernized, and not very 
patriotic. With allies Prussia might have counted heavily 
against Napoleon, but it was madness for her to declare war 
alone. So long as Austria had been in fighting condition, 
Napoleon had carefully soothed Frederick William with com- 
pliments and concessions; now he deliberately goaded the 
Prussians into fury by his aggressions along their frontiers and 
by various acts which they could consider perfidy. In an hour 
of blind folly, Frederick William declared war with only mari- 
time England and distant Russia for possible helpers. 

It was easy to forecast Prussian defeat, but that defeat was 
astonishingly sudden. " His Majesty the King," a Prussian 
general had said, " has several generals as good as or superior to 
Monsieur Bonaparte." They proved their worth at Jena 
(October 14, 1806) when the Prussian army was utterly routed 1 
by Napoleon's columns and practically the whole kingdom fell 
into his hands with ease; one fortress after another capitulating 
with disgraceful haste. The old fighting machine of Frederick 
the Great had been shattered to bits by the new fighting 
machine of Napoleon. 

1 The Prussians were not merely defeated, but so absolutely demoralized that 
their unfortunate king was unable to get them really together for another battle 
before he had been forced back nearly to the Russian frontier. 



436 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Czar Alexander presently came to Frederick William's help. 
The allies made a last stand in the extreme east of the Prussian 
kingdom. But after the unsuccessful battle of Friedland (1807), 
the czar would do no more. He was a somewhat fickle, impres- 
sionable man, and Napoleon succeeded in filling him with fine 
notions of dividing the entire world between the " two friendly 
empires " of Russia and France. The result was the Peace of 
Tilsit (July 9, 1807). 

By this treaty Russia lost practically nothing, but Prussia 
was almost stricken from the list of great Powers. She lost all 
her lands west of the Elbe, and nearly all her annexations at 
the division of Poland; in short, her territory was reduced from 
89,000 to 46,000 square miles. She was later pledged to pay an 
enormous war indemnity to the French, and not to maintain 
an army of more than 42,000 men. 

The Peace of Tilsit probably marked the culmination of 
Napoleon's power. He dominated Europe as had no ruler since 
the passing of the old Roman Empire. Despite the cruelty and 
selfishness of his policy he had accomplished, on the whole, 
great good. The rotten institutions of old Europe had been 
shaken to their bases. What now would take their place? 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Lodi; Treaty of Campo Formio; Battle of the Nile; 
Second Coalition; Constitution of the year VIII; Peace of Luneville; 
the "enactment of the Delegates of the Empire"; Third Coalition; 
Trafalgar; Austerlitz; Peace of Pressburg; Jena; Peace of Tilsit. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Corsica; Toulon; Mantua; Campo Formio; Camper- 
down; Malta; Aboukir Bay; Marengo; Lunpville; Amiens; 
Trafalgar; Ulm; Austerlitz; Jena. 

(b) Mark the states of Italy in 1798. 

3. Make a summary giving the chief events (with dates) in the life of 
Napoleon; noting the stages of his ascent to power, and how each 
great campaign affected his fortunes. 

4. Describe the work of the English navy from Cape St. Vincent to 
Trafalgar, showing clearly how that work affected Napoleon's career. 



BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 43 7 

5. Show briefly what events and changes had taken place during the 
period covered by this chapter in Italy, Austria, Prussia, the German 
states (aside from Austria and Prussia), and Russia. 

EXERCISES 

1. Admiral Nelson. 

2. The Peace of Amiens. 

3. How far did the court of Napoleon as emperor resemble the French 
court before the Revolution? 

4. The battle of Trafalgar. 

5. The battle of Austerlitz. 

6. The battle of Friedland. 

7. The end of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation." 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 418-35. 

Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 145-55, 170-76. Duruy: pp. 566-600. 
Pattison: pp. 362-81. Lodge: chapter xxm, sections 21-30; xxiv, 
sections 1-25. Lewis: pp. 557-82. Robinson and Beard: vol. 1, pp. 

284-323/ 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 

254. Napoleon at the height of his power. " The new 
Charlemagne" seemed to round out his astoundingly ambi- 
tious policy in 1808, when, by deliberately trading upon the 
dissensions existing in the Spanish royal family, he induced 
the worthless king to abdicate, and when he himself thrust his 
own brother Joseph upon the venerable throne of Ferdinand 
and Isabella and Philip II. From this time to 181 2 he con- 
tinued to ordain one annexation or protectorate after another, 
until " France" and her dependencies covered a large part of 
the map of Europe. 

The French Empire (proper), besides old France, now ex- 
tended to the Rhine, and included, on the north, Holland and 
the seacoast of Germany up to Denmark. In Italy it embraced 
a broad strip running along the west coast and including 
Rome. 1 

Around France ran a kind of fringe of dependent kingdoms, 
their thrones filled by satellites of their powerful creator. Thus, 
as seen, Spain fell to Joseph, Napoleon's brother; Westphalia 
(in North Germany, a new and arbitrary unit manufactured 
by Napoleon) to Jerome, a younger brother; Naples passed 
to Murat, a favorite cavalry officer. Most of northern Italy 
formed the Kingdom of Italy, of which Napoleon took the crown 
himself, but left the immediate government to his capable 
stepson, the viceroy, Eugene. In Germany most states not al- 
ready absorbed were yoked together into the u Confederation 

1 The helpless Pope (Pius VII) was held a prisoner in France. Napoleon 
affected to patronize the Catholic Church as a religious organization, but if his 
regime had lasted, the Church would have been hopelessly dependent upon the 
secular government. 



THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 



439 



of the Rhine," with Napoleon as protector. Some of these 
lesser states the emperor cultivated as harmless and useful 
allies against Austria or Prussia. Thus the rulers of Bavaria, 
Saxony, and Wiirtemberg were raised to the proud status of 




EUROPE IN I8IO 



" kings"; and Baden to a " grand duchy." All Germany west 
of the Rhine was, of course, directly in French hands, and every 
effort was being made to make the people entirely French in 
habits and language. French influence was in fact everywhere. 
No doubt Napoleon dreamed of making the civilization of the 
European world French, even as it had once been Latin. 



440 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

It would be a mistake to consider Napoleon a mere destroyer 
and conqueror. Amid the clash of arms he found time for 
a great deal of intelligent interest and legislation in behalf 
of French manufactures, commerce, and agriculture. Soon 
after gaining power he established the "University" — a 
grand organization of all the higher educational forces in 
France, putting them under the organized control of the 
Government. He reformed the paper currency of the Revolu- 
tion and placed French money on a sound basis. He recalled 
many royalist exiles, and gave them places of honor in his 
new governmental machine. His Code Napoleon was a mar- 
velously successful codification of French law. 1 If his rule was 
that of a despot, he at least made it plain that ability, and 
not merely aristocratic birth or privilege, could command high 
positions in his Government. Men served him well, for they 
knew that he was no respecter of persons, and that the rewards 
for faithful and efficient service were great. k ' Every soldier 
carries a marshal's baton in his knapsack," Napoleon is said to 
have remarked, implying that distinguished military achieve- 
ment was certain of promotion. Corresponding conditions 
were true in his civil service. 

In 1808, Napoleon's power seemed colossal. By a " concor- 
dat" with the Pope, he had even hushed up the much vexed 
religious question, and restored the Catholic Church to most of 
its honors. He had yoked supreme ability to supreme good 
fortune. From this time onward, however, he was to plunge 
into manifold difficulties, largely of his own making, which led 
to his downfall. 

255. The Continental Blockade. Even when Napoleon had 
forced peace with the bayonet upon all the rest of the world, 
the war with England continued. This war, however, was one 

1 This Code is still used in France to-day, and with some modifications in 
many parts of Germany, in Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and the American 
State of Louisiana. 




NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Emperor of the French (1804-15) 
Born 1769 Died 1821 



THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 441 

in which the emperor felt his right arm tied. Since Trafalgar 
it was practically impossible for a French fleet to creep beyond 
the protecting fortress-guns of its home harbor. From the 
Baltic to the Adriatic, the swarms of British blockading cruis- 
ers sealed all the ports of Napoleon's huge realm and those of 
his allies. French commerce was being strangled, while Eng- 
lish shipping ranged the seas. 

In a desperate attempt to coerce Great Britain, Napoleon 
now resorted to a form of embargo, almost unique in history. 
In 1806-07, he declared, by the "Berlin" and " Milan decrees," 
all his dominions and all countries under his mighty influence 
closed, not merely to British ships, but to British manufactures 
of any kind. All his unwilling allies and dependencies were 
forced to do likewise. British goods if smuggled in could be 
seized and burned; while intercourse with England in any form 
became a great crime. This "Continental System" was, on 
the whole, a vast blunder. It could not be enforced rigorously 
enough to ruin England; it did ruin many innocent merchants 
whose trade was destroyed; it was intensely unpopular in 
France; and it brought home the despotic nature of Napoleon's 
regime to the awakening patriots of Germany. These decrees 
form one of the prime causes of Napoleon's loss of popularity. 

256. The resistance of Spain and Austria. In 1808, in an 
unlucky moment Napoleon had overstepped all prudence by 
deposing the old dynasty and thrusting his brother Joseph 
upon the throne of Spain. The emperor had rightly formed a 
contemptuous opinion of the Spanish army ; but he forgot that 
Spain, though an exceedingly easy country to defeat, has 
proved in history to be an exceedingly difficult country to 
conquer. There was a wholesale uprising and arming of the 
proud Spaniards against, the interloping " Corsican." Napoleon 
threw 250,000 men into the peninsula; he won repeated vic- 
tories over the ill-led forces of the Spanish Provisional Govern- 
ment; but although he could take the chief cities after cruel 



442 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

slaughter, he could not crush the guerrilla bands, who defied 
his power everywhere, and kept the patriot cause alive. For 
the first time in his career Napoleon had to confront, not 
"monarchies," but enkindled k * peoples. " He did not know 
how to deal with the problem. 

Year after year the Spanish war continued. The Spaniards 
gained the help of small armies from England, commanded 
presently by Sir Arthur Wellesley. 1 The generals to whom 
Napoleon left the war found their task increasingly difficult, 
and clamored for reinforcements. Napoleon had to divert to 
Spain men sorely needed elsewhere. This exhausting contest 
went on until his downfall. "My ulcer" was what later he 
pithily called this Spanish war. 

In 1809, he fought more victoriously with Austria, which 
had ventured to measure strength with him again. Even here 
an unpleasant surprise awaited. At Aspern, for the first time 
in his life, he was really defeated. Then his good fortune and 
genius reasserted itself. At Wagram he won a great victory. 
Again Austria must make peace, with the additional loss of 
32,000 square miles of territory. 2 

257. The regeneration of Prussia. But it was neither Spain 
nor Austria that was to break the power of the great conqueror. 
The real avenger of the outraged nationalities was to be 
Prussia. 

No land had been dealt with so ruthlessly by Napoleon: for 
none did he manifest such obvious contempt. At times it 
seemed as if he would use his great power to blot it from the 
map. But Prussia, although hitherto a land mainly of hard- 
drinking country nobles, stupid peasants, and a few unprogres- 

1 Later the Duke of Wellington. This contest in Spain is called by the English 
the " Peninsular War," and is notable as the scene of Wellington's early triumphs 
and of the experience which stood him in such good stead at Waterloo. 

2 Much of these lands Austria had to give to Bavaria (Napoleon's supple ally) ; 
some to the Duchy of Warsaw (a partial revival of Poland) ; and certain districts 
along the Adriatic to France itself. 



THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 443 

sive burghers, now came to be the focus of the rising German 
national feeling, smarting and angry as it was under French 
insolence and French dictation. In the hard school of adver- 
sity, Frederick William III learned many things: especially 
he appointed as ministers several men who rank as great con- 
structive statesmen. The salvation of Prussia was largely 
due to Humboldt, who reformed her system of education and 
founded the University of Berlin; 1 to Scharnhorst, who reor- 
ganized the demoralized Prussian army on the basis, not of 




^F ; 






ENROLLING VOLUNTEERS IN PRUSSIA 

mercenary enlistments, but of universal service, as part of the 
duties of all citizens, 2 and above all, to Stein, who secured the 
abolition of serfdom and of the old feudal restrictions which 
had hampered the rise of the lower classes. It is not too much 
to say that the greatness of modern Germany dates from the 

1 The only efficient Prussian universities had been located in the territory 
ceded at Tilsit. The founding now of the University of Berlin, destined to be 
the intellectual citadel of all the new nineteenth-century scientific and higher 
learning, was an event of the very first order — more important than many far- 
heralded battles. 

2 Napoleon had forced Prussia to limit her army to 42,000 men. The difficulty 
was met by dismissing the new recruits as soon as they were fairly well-trained 
soldiers, and then enlisting another set; keeping the older men within easy call. 
In this way Prussia really had 150,000 men available for an emergency. 



444 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

reforms of these men, and the new spirit of patriotism which 
went with them. 

The revival of patriotic feeling was not confined to Prussian 
governmental circles alone. Men of letters and learning shared 
in it. The great philosopher Fichte summed up the spirit in 
his " Addresses to the German Nation." Clearly he pointed 
out that it was not by mere diplomatic combinations, but 
by a new patriotism and passion for self-sacrifice, that the 
Fatherland could be saved; and he called for an intelligent 
devotion which should " fashion the German people to a unity 
throbbing through all its limbs." Such appeals went home 
even to the most doltish peasants. With a great impatience 
Prussia awaited the day for heroic effort and national deliv- 
erance. That day dawned late in 1812. 

258. The Moscow Campaign (1812). Yet in the fateful year 
of 181 2 Napoleon's power seemed unshaken. The Prussian 
patriot movement seemed spending itself in harmless reforms 
in a weak vassal kingdom. The Spanish war languished. Sdme 
great disaster was needed to tell the world that the " Con- 
queror " was not invincible; that it was not courting instant 
destruction to rise against him. Napoleon himself provided 
the way for his own overthrow. 

With Czar Alexander he had made close and avowedly equal 
alliance, but a real equal Napoleon could never brook. Between 
Russia and France there arose at first friction, then coldness. 1 
Lured on by an evil genius, Napoleon declared war on Russia. 
Over 550,000 men (only a minority Frenchmen, the rest drawn 
from his trembling dependencies and allies) followed him when 
he invaded the czar's dominions in June, 18 12. He fought his 
way across the great plains toward Moscow, convinced that 
once the ancient and sacred capital of Russia had fallen into his 

1 The chief ground of trouble was that Alexander refused to enforce the "Con- 
tinental System " firmly against English commerce, and thereby ruin his own 
Russian commerce. 



THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 445 

hands, the czar would cry out for peace. At Borodino he fought 
a terribly bloody battle 1 and won the day; but his foes retired 
unbroken and in good order. On September 14, he entered 
Moscow. 

Then came the great disillusionment. The czar did not sue 
for peace. The city took fire, and became almost uninhabit- 
able. 2 Supplies ran short for the French. Retreat was the only 
wise course, but Napoleon delayed, hoping vainly for a request 
for an armistice. No messenger from the czar came. On 
October 19, the " Grand Army " started back for Germany. 
The story of the return march is one of the tragedies of history. 
The terrible Russian winter, the attacks of the swarming 
Cossack horsemen, the total failure of all supplies, the destruc- 
tion of bridges, — all made the " Retreat from Moscow " a 
continuous horror. Napoleon reached the confines of Poland 
in January with barely 20,000 men behind him. Three hundred 
thousand able-bodied young men among the French or their 
allies had perished; and the rest were prisoners, stragglers, or 
had gone over to the enemy. 

259. The great uprising against Napoleon (1813). The 
extremity of Napoleon was the opportunity of Prussia. A great 
outburst of patriotic zeal swept the hesitant King Frederick 
William away from his alliance with the emperor. Magnificent 
had been the uprising of France against the Austro-Prussian 
invaders in the days of the Revolution; equally magnificent 
now was the uprising of Prussia against the Colossus of France. 
University professors led their students to the enlistment hall. 
Women sacrificed their jewels, their wedding rings, even their 
long hair, to raise money for the Fatherland. The winter of 
181 2-13 was spent by the Prussians in a tremendous effort to 



1 The French lost 32,000 and the Russians 47,000 men. 

2 Just how far the Russians were responsible for setting and spreading the fire, 
and again how much it had to do with rendering Napoleon's position untenable, 
are among the debatable problems of history. 



446 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

organize an army which could enable their small impoverished 
kingdom to measure swords with the oppressor. 

Napoleon, meantime, was in France, displaying astonishing 
energy in creating another army. He had saved most of his 
officers out of the Moscow wreck, but even before the last fear- 
ful campaign his old veterans, the soldiers of the Republic, 
who had won his first great battles, had been killed off. Only 
by a remorseless conscription, which swept the whole youth of 
France into the battalions, could he now assemble numbers 
sufficient to enable him to take the field. Frenchmen had long 
since grown weary of celebrating " victories" for which they 
had paid with their sons' lives. Now, after Moscow, even Na- 
poleon's despotism could not silence a rising demand for 
" peace." He went into the 1813 campaign with France weary 
and sullen, with Russia triumphant, and with Prussia most 
terribly aroused. 

260. The 'Battle of the Nations "; Leipzig (1813). Despite 
the untrained recruits in his ranks, Napoleon at first was able 
to claim more victories in Germany, but they were not victories 
of a decisive kind. The Prussian patriot-armies did not break 
up now as had the old Prussian army at Jena. In June, 1813, 
he made an armistice with Russia and Prussia, each side wait- 
ing to see what attitude Austria would assume. Emperor 
Francis I had hesitated : — Austria had been defeated so often, 
and Francis was now Napoleon's father-in-law. 1 But the 
Corsican foolishly threw away his last chance of keeping 
Austrian friendship and so breaking up the coalition. When 
Metternich, the sly Hapsburg prime minister, called on him at 
Dresden (June 26, 1813), to offer Austrian "mediation" in 
repayment for the return of some of the Hapsburg lands previ- 
ously seized by France, Napoleon refused any concessions and 

1 In 1 8 10, Napoleon (who had divorced Josephine because she bore him no f 
children) had wedded the Austrian princess, Maria Louisa. The fruit of this 
marriage was a son, "the King of Rome," who would have been reckoned 
"Napoleon II" if he had ever reigned. 



THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 447 

acted with intolerable arrogance. "So you want war?" he 
cried. " Well, you shall have it. The rendezvous shall be in 
Vienna." In a fit of rage he flung his hat into the corner of the 
room, and vowed that he cared not if his wars cost the lives of a 
million men. The ambassador went out grimly. " The man is 
lost!" was Metternich's blunt reply to the French generals, 
who crowded around him as he came forth, and who as sane 
persons were hoping for peace. 

Austria now joined with Prussia and Russia in another great 
coalition. England sent subsidies. For the first time all the 
great non-French Powers were in cordial alliance, and the 
result was inevitable. Napoleon could still prolong the fighting 
from August until October, and then came the blow from which 
he never recovered. From October 16 to the 18th raged the 
three days' battle of Leipzig: the " Battle of the Nations," the 
victors justly called it. Three hundred thousand allies held 
Napoleon at bay with only 180,000 men behind him. The 
French fought magnificently, but there could be only one end. 
The emperor escaped back into France with only the bare 
remnants of an utterly defeated army. 

261. The first abdication (1814). Napoleon could still have 
saved his throne and a considerable part of his conquests if he 
would have made peace promptly; but the idea of becoming 
merely one of several rulers of " Great Powers " was intoler- 
able to him; besides, in France he was really only a tremen- 
dously successful adventurer. Could he keep his throne if he 
were no longer victorious; and if the chief result of his reign 
should prove to have been only the slaughter of countless French 
youth? Despite the fact that his armies were now hopelessly 
depleted, that the English were victorious over his marshals in 
Spain, that an increasing murmur against new sacrifices was 
arising at home, he refused all tolerable terms of accommoda- 
tion, and defied embattled Europe to do its worst. 

Late in December, 18 13, the allies began to penetrate into 



448 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



France to complete the work of Leipzig. No uprising of the 
masses (like that of 1792-93) took place to sweep them beyond 
the frontiers. With the last remnants of his regular army 
Napoleon fought a magnificent campaign against superior 
numbers; repeatedly he won victories, but not decisive ones. 
March 31, 18 14, the allied forces entered Paris, and early in 
April, Napoleon's marshals — no longer willing to sacrifice 




SURRENDER OF PARIS TO THE ALLIED MONARCHS, MARCH 31, 1814 

themselves to their master's pride — informed him that the 
army could do no more. He must abdicate, and make terms 
with the allies. Very unwillingly he perforce consented. 

The allied monarchs hesitated considerably as to the new 
government to give to France: logically, however, only one 
thing was possible, to restore the exiled Bourbon prince, the 
brother of Louis XVI, as Louis XVIII, under a constitution, 
the "Charter," which secured to France most of the perma- 
nent reforms of the Revolution and a kind of elective Parlia- 
ment. The boundaries of France were to be those existing 



THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 4 49 

before the Revolution, with certain very slight additions. 1 
As for Napoleon, he was to keep the title of "Emperor," and 
be granted the small island of Elba, off the Italian coast, as a 
principality. It did not require keen powers of prophecy to 
imagine that he could not rest within such narrow limits 
forever. 

262. Waterloo (1815) and St. Helena. On May 4, 1814, Napo- 
leon reached Elba. On March 1, 181 5, he had landed again 
in southern France. The restored regime of the Bourbons 
had proved tactless and unpopular. The army had not the 
least enthusiasm for a Government which practically repudi- 
ated all the glories of the past twenty years. 2 The instant he 
believed discontent had ripened, Napoleon struck. For the 
moment all resistance to his progress crumbled. The troops 
sent against him joined in the cry, " Long Live the Emperor! " 
Marshal Ney was sent by Louis XVIII to arrest his old mas- 
ter: and Ney joined the rest in the wholesale desertion. The 
Bourbons fled hastily to Belgium, while Napoleon reentered 
Paris. 

The emperor enacted various "popular" measures to con- 
ciliate public opinion, 3 and begged the allied monarchs of 
Europe to believe that he desired nothing now but the old 
boundaries of France and peace. It was impossible to believe 
him. While his uneasy genius should control the destinies of 
France, no former enemy could rest safe. England, Prussia, 
Austria, and Russia declared war and put their armies in mo- 
tion. The forces at Napoleon's disposal were very inferior in 
numbers, though the quality of this remainder of his old armies 

1 In the second treaty of peace which followed Waterloo, France lost practi- 
cally all these small annexations also, and was thrown back upon the old boun- 
daries of 1790. She was likewise compelled to pay a heavy war indemnity. 

2 One of the great grievances of the soldiers was the restoring of the old 
"White" flag of the Bourbons in place of the beloved "Tricolor." 

3 Napoleon especially tried to convince the French that he would rule as a 
constitutional and limited monarch, and that he had abandoned all schemes for 
foreign empire and conquest. 



THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 451 

was excellent. His only chance was to take the offensive 
promptly and to crush his opponents piecemeal ere they could 
unite their myriads. In June he flung himself into Belgium, 
and at Ligny defeated Bliicher, the brave Prussian com- 
mander; and four days later (June 18, 18 15), believing Bliicher 
had been rendered harmless, he fell upon the English Duke of 
Wellington, at Waterloo. 1 Four hours long the armies grappled 
with headlong courage, and the plunging charges of the French 
cavalry several times almost broke down the stubborn English 
defense. The battle, however, seemed ending without decision, 
when Bliicher's Prussians began coming on the scene after a 
remarkable forced march. Napoleon's troops had spent them- 
selves. A last spectacular charge of the " Old Guard " ended in 
failure, and panic seized the exhausted army. They carried 
their leader with them in the headlong rout. 

On June 22, 181 5, Napoleon a second time abdicated. He 
surrendered himself to the English as being rather less incensed 
against him than the Prussians; but after the " Hundred Days" 
the only fate for him was exile or death. He was sent by the 
English to St. Helena (a lonely isle in the South Atlantic), and 
there he died, after a very fretful and unresigned captivity, in 
182 1. The kings of Europe breathed more easily when they 
heard of his end. 

263. Napoleon's character and place in history. It is easier 
to cover Napoleon with immoderate praise or execration than 
to form a just estimate of his work and his character. For 
nearly twenty years Europe was under the shadow of his per- 
sonality. His restless and selfish ambition sacrificed millions 
of lives in wars of his own creating. He was literally a devourer 
of the youth of France and of the unlucky nations which he 
assailed. He was genuinely anxious for the prosperity of 
France — but only on condition that the prosperity redounded 

1 Wellington had a mixed force of about 70,000 — English, Germans, Dutch; 
Napoleon, about 72,000. 



452 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

to his own glory. The Supreme Egoist — that may be one 
estimate of his character. 

Yet Napoleon's career was worth nearly all that it had cost. 
In the surge and wreck of his campaignings the rotten institu- 
tions of old Europe were crippled or destroyed. What might 
have taken slow centuries was accomplished in two decades. 
National spirit was evoked; complacent dynasts were humbled; 
above all, feudal privilege was broken down. In Europe after 
Napoleon there were almost no serfs save in stagnant Russia, 
and the old hidebound aristocracies witnessed the vanishing 
of most of their power. 

REVIEW 

i. Topics — Code Napoleon; the "Continental System"; the Peninsular 
War; "Battle of the Nations"; Elba; the "Hundred Days"; St. Helena. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Berlin: Moscow; Leipzig; Elba; Waterloo. 

(b) Mark the states of Europe at the time when Napoleon was at 
the height of his power. Indicate those which were practically con- 
trolled by Napoleon. 

3. Describe the internal conditions of France under Napoleon. 

4. Would the "regeneration of Prussia " have occurred without the humil- 
iations imposed by Napoleon? 

5. If Napoleon had "made peace promptly" after Leipzig, is it possible 
that the peace would have been long-enduring? Give reasons. 

6. Compare Napoleon with Cromwell. 

7. Summarize the part played by England in the whole period of the 
struggle against Napoleon. 

8. Have there been any other characters in modern times who might have 
become as powerful as Napoleon, if they had been equally ambitious ? 

EXERCISES 

1. Napoleon and the Papacy; the Concordat. 

2. The economic conditions in France under Napoleon. 

3. The "Continental System." 

4. In what ways had Napoleon humiliated Prussia? 

5. The work of Humboldt, Scharnhorst, and Stein. 

6. The Russian campaign; Napoleon's conduct in the retreat from 

Moscow. 



THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 453 

7. The battle of Leipzig. 

8. The Waterloo campaign. Wellington as a general. Compare with 
Napoleon and Marlborough. 

9. The effect of Napoleon's career upon France; upon Europe. 



READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 436-54. 

Modem Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 155-69, 176-92. Duruy: pp. 586-87, 
590-91, 598, 601-31. Pattison: pp. 375-77, 381-90. Lodge: chapter 
xxiv, sections 7, 23, 26-56. Lewis: pp. 583-661. Gibbins: pp. 175-78, 
191-92. Robinson and Beard: vol. 1, pp. 323-43. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

THE REACTION IN EUROPE: THE DOMINATION OF 
METTERNICH 

264. The Congress of Vienna. At Vienna, in 18 14, had 
assembled a great congress of the chief diplomats of all Europe, 

to remake the map of the Continent, to decide who should 
profit by the undoing of Napoleon, to establish guaranties 
against the return of " Revolution," and to insure the continu- 
ance of " legitimacy " (i.e., the continuance of the old dynasties 
in power) . The return of Napoleon from Elba interrupted the 
congress; the diplomats often were at bitter odds among them- 
selves as to the division of the spoils. Nevertheless, in 181 5, 
the discontented element (especially Prussia) had been brow- 
beaten into acquiescence. A new Europe was virtually created, 
under an arrangement which remained fairly intact down 
to 1859. 

The leading spirit in preparing and perpetuating this scheme 
was Prince Metternich, the clever and unscrupulous prime 
minister of Austria. To him everything savoring of " liberal- 
ism " or " revolution " was anathema. His influence extended 
far outside of his master's dominions. Czar Alexander and 
many other monarchs heard his advice gladly. Down to 1848, 
he remained in power at Vienna as the inveterate foe of all free 
political institutions; and so complete was his domination of 
the situation throughout Europe that this age following Napo- 
leon is often called " the Age of Metternich." 

Here are some of the chief arrangements promulgated at 
Vienna : — 

(1) Austria regained most of her old possessions north of 
the Alps ; in Italy she was given Lombardy and Venetia (an 



THE REACTION IN EUROPE 



455 




EUROPE AFTER THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA, 1815 
f==i States of the German Confederation. 
Iggg The Kingdom of Prussia. 
—... Bounds of the Empire of Austria. 
Note.— In Italy, Austria has a small strip of 
territory south of the Po Eiver, on the 
northern border of Modena. 



G — Germans 
S — Slavs 
M — Magyars 
R — Roumanians 
I — Italians 



i 



The distribution of 
races in modern 
Austria-Hungary. 



unnatural yoking of German and Slavic with Italian lands 
which was sure to cause disaster). 

(2) Out of Holland and Belgium, now united, the Kingdom 
of the Netherlands was formed, the ruler to be the heir of the 
old Princes of Orange. This new state was intended as a kind 
of counterpoise to France. 



456 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

(3) Sweden was obliged to give up all her possessions across 
the Baltic; in return her kings were given the crown of Norway, 
which was torn from Denmark. 1 

(4) Spain was handed back to its old Bourbon kings. 

(5) The bulk of old Poland was given to Russia, as " the 
Kingdom of Poland." Subsequent years, however, were to see 
the destruction of even this semblance of Polish autonomy. 

(6) Italy (a mere " geographical expression," Metternich 
remarked) was treated as if there were no common Italian 
language, patriotism, or civilization. The King of Sardinia 
received back his old Piedmont lands, plus the territory of 
Genoa; the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, Parma, and Modena 
were restored; the Pope returned to the Papal States and 
Rome; the Bourbon dynasty was restored in Naples. Austria, 
of course, held a commanding position in North Italy. The 
various petty potentates were absolutely dependent upon 
Metternich and his master. 

(7) In the arrangements at Vienna, Germany received the 
harshest treatment, even though she had suffered most from 
Napoleon. German patriots had expected that the overthrow 
of the great oppressor would be followed by the establishment 
of a common German state with some form of free institutions. 
Instead, Germany was cast into a loose confederacy of thirty- 
nine states, varying in size from the mighty Austria and 
Prussia down to very petty principalities or free cities. The 
Confederacy was to have a " Diet," too weak for real legisla- 
tion, but strong enough to obstruct steps toward progress. 

Prussia herself felt poorly indemnified for the great part she 
had played against Napoleon. Most of her lost Polish prov- 
inces were not handed back, and she was given only a slice of 
territory from Saxony, 2 and some detached lands along the 

1 The King of Denmark, unluckily for himself, had taken sides with Napoleon. 

2 The King of Saxony had been peculiarly subservient to Napoleon, and the 
victorious allies at one time considered destroying his kingdom outright. 



THE REACTION IN EUROPE 457 

Rhine. In short, the German arrangements of the congress 
were discontenting alike to the Prussian King 1 and to the 
German people, and were sure to result in trouble. 

265. The Holy Alliance (1815). In 1815, Czar Alexander, 
a well-meaning, impulsive monarch of a mystical, impractical 
turn of mind, induced the Emperor of Austria and the King of 
Prussia to join him in a pact known as "The Holy Alliance." 
In flowery language and with many professions of Christian 
zeal and charity, the three sovereigns were to govern their 
countries "as delegates of Providence," and invited all other 
European Powers to unite in this league with them. Metter- 
nich had little confidence in such high-flown utterances, but he 
induced his master to join the pact as tying the czar closely to 
his own reactionary policy. For the next decade Metternich 
induced Prussia and Russia to work with Austria in stamping 
out the "disease of liberalism." Anything like free institu- 
tions in a European country was a calamity; 2 and since evil 
political ideas when propagated in one country quickly spread 
across the frontiers to the next, no small state was to be allowed 
to liberalize its institutions (even if its sovereign desired it), but 
must be forced back into the old ways of despotism. 

The age was one of a rigid censorship of the press, of the 
silencing of outspoken university professors, and of the use of 
spies and all forms of police coercion against possible agitators, 
with imprisonment or exile awaiting all the bolder spirits who 
defied the prime minister at Vienna. In 1821, after a congress 
of diplomats at Laibach, an Austrian army was authorized to 
march into the Kingdom of Naples, and destroy a constitu- 
tional government which the liberals of that sorely misgoverned 
country had forced upon their king. In 1823, a French army 
did a similar office in Spain, where also there was a strong 

1 Metternich, of course, as an Austrian, tried to keep Prussia as weak as 
possible. 

2 Of course, no attempt was made to meddle with England, and its effective- 
ness was confined to the Continent. 



458 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

movement toward freer government. 1 Only the opposition of 
England and the United States 2 prevented Metternich and his 
allies from following this up by a reconquest of the revolted 
colonies of Spain in America. In 1830, however, his grip on 
Europe was seriously shaken. 

266. The Greek and the Belgian revolts. The first real set- 
back for Metternich came in the revolt of the Greeks against 
Turkish oppression (1821). Their country really lay outside 
of Christian Europe; their grievances were undoubted; but the 
Turks were their " legitimate" rulers, and no revolt against 
" legitimacy " was to be encouraged, no matter how great the 
oppression. Nevertheless, despite the frowns of the Great 
Powers, the Greeks struggled on. In 1827, England, France, 
and Russia intervened in their favor. 3 In 1829, the independ- 
ence of Greece as a small kingdom was won. The first altera- 
tion had been made in the map of 181 5. 

In 1830 came another, a more serious change. Holland and 
Belgium had not enjoyed being yoked together as one kingdom. 
The Belgians complained that the Dutch domineered over 
them, and monopolized the control of the Government. In 
August, 1830, a revolution started in Brussels which soon ended 
in the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium, 
under Leopold I. 4 So the scheme for a strong buffer state north 
of France ended in battle-smoke. In this year, also, a few 
weeks before the Belgian uprising, a most serious outbreak 
of " liberalism " had occurred in France, the homeland of 
". Revolution." 

267. France under the Bourbons; (1815-30). After the 

1 Louis XVIII was not an original member of the "Holy Alliance"; but he 
owed his throne to the "Three Monarchs" and dared not forget his obliga- 
tions. 

2 It was at this time that the Monroe Doctrine originated. 

3 The battle of Navarino (1827), off the western coast of Greece (harbor of 
old Pylos), won by the allied fleets over the Turkish fleet, was practically the last 
great naval battle between old sailing men-of-war. 

4 Leopold had been a prince of Saxe-Coburg in Germany. 



THE REACTION IN EUROPE 



459 



second expulsion of Napoleon, Louis XVIII had returned to 
Paris. There was no enthusiasm for his rule, but France was 
exhausted and not then prepared to defy Europe a third time, 
simply because she preferred another form of government. 
Weary years of exile had taught Louis XVIII a reasonable 
amount of wisdom, and he man- 
aged to temper the furious clam- 
ors of the returned noble emigrants 
for "revenge" and a recall of the 
Old Regime. The great social gains 
of the Revolution were kept. 
Frenchmen continued equal be- 
fore the law, and there was no 
odious restoration of privilege and 
of absolute monarchy. The new 
constitution (the " Charter "), 
however, was comparatively illib- 
eral. The upper house of the 
legislature was nominated by the 
king: the lower house was theo- 
retically chosen by "the people" 
— but since only heavy taxpayers 
were eligible to vote, the whole 
number of electors was under exposing petty offenders in 
100,000 in a nation of 30,000,000. 
Such a constitution was obviously 
only a bad imitation of a limited 
monarchy: and soon after Louis 

was succeeded by his less capable and more absolutist brother, 
Charles X (1824-30), everything was ready for a new upheaval. 
268. The Revolution of 1830. In 1830, discontent in France 
was at such a stage that, even with the very limited franchise, 
a Parliament was chosen highly unfriendly to the king's abso- 
lutist ministers. In an evil hour they dissolved the new Parlia- 




THE PILLORY, FRANCE, ABOUT 

1830 

Criminal punishments were still 
very barbarous. (After a drawing by 
Philipon) 



460 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



ment and issued a proclamation (the "July Ordinances") 
suspending all liberty of the press/ and making several reac- 
tionary changes in the fundamental laws on the strength of 
the king's unsupported fiat. If Charles were to have his way, 

the last semblance of 
constitutional rule had 
vanished from France — 
and with it about the 
last strictly political gain 
from the great Revolu- 
tion. 

Paris was already an- 
gry. Now her wrath 
boiled over. A small band 
of Republicans, faithful 
heirs of the old Jacobins, 
were the leading spirits, 
but they found hosts of 
less radical helpers. It 
was speedily discovered 
how barricades of pav- 
ing-stones and over- 
turned carts could read- 
ily block the crooked 
streets of the old city; 
and how behind these 
barricades a few resolute 
men could defy a regi- 
ment. Charles ordered 
the regular soldiery to clear the streets (July 27). The troops 
were ill led and none too zealous. Their first repulse led to 
the spread of the revolt. By July 29, Paris was in the hands 

1 The French newspapers had been allowed more liberty than in most other 
European countries. 




A BARRICADE IN PARIS, 1830 
Built of paving-stones, it completely blocks the 
narrow street. The barricades of 1848 were often 
much more elaborate. (From a painting by Horace 
Vemet, in the Musee Camavalet, Paris) 



THE REACTION IN EUROPE 461 

of a Provisional Government, and after a vain attempt to 
compromise, the futile old king was obliged to abdicate and to 
flee the land. 1 The "July Revolution" had undone a great 
part of the work of Metternich. France at least was lost to 
" legitimacy." 

A strong fraction of the insurgents desired a republic, but 
they were really in the minority. The crown was given to 
Louis Philippe, a royal prince, the son of a Duke of Orleans, 
who had supported the popular cause in the old Revolution. 
He professed ultra-liberal views and promised a genuinely con- 
stitutional government. France, however, was soon to find 
his professions very different from his performance. 

269. The situation in Germany. In 18 13, at the expense 
of infinite sacrifice, the Prussians had driven the French from 
the land, and all the rest of Germany had sympathized and 
applauded. Now, after the arrangements of Vienna, it was 
evident that Germany was little more than a " geographical 
expression," like unhappy Italy. The fundamental bane was 
the subdivision of the country and the lack of a national leader. 
Austria (despite the fact that the bulk of her lands were non- 
German) never ceased to claim leadership in German affairs, 
and never ceased to check every move looking to the predomi- 
nance of Prussia. Prussia, however, was excessively dreaded 
by the sovereigns of the little states, as likely to absorb them 
if allowed the least opportunity. They, therefore, stood closely 
by Austria and took their policy usually from Metternich. 
King Frederick William III and his ministers, on their part, 
were no persons capable of opposing the schemes of the prime 
minister at Vienna. 

In this state of unhappy deadlock, political progress was 
excessively slow, and discontent among the educated classes 
grew amain. The universities became not merely centers of 
learning, but of popular agitation; their temporary closing, 

1 He died six years later in Styria. 



462 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

the suspension or expulsion of " political " professors did not 
end the gathering storm. In these next years of apparent non- 
progress, German national feeling began to work silently 
toward a focus as never before. The past glories of the mediae- 
val Empire, when Germany really was something, were eagerly 
studied, and from the example of the mighty past hope was 
gained for the future. 

Nor was the age absolutely barren in advancement. In 
several of the smaller states (e.g., Bavaria, Wiirtemberg) the 
rulers were induced to give their subjects parliaments and 
constitutions. Again, in 1833, Prussia commenced a success- 
ful Li German Customs Union," 1 which wrought mightily for 
economic unity by abolishing obnoxious internal customs bar- 
riers, and which paved the way for a later political unity, as 
well as adding essentially to the growth of German commerce 
and industry. 

270. The situation in Italy. The state of Italy was even 
worse than that of Germany. During the period of French 
domination, Italy had received what she had not had for ages 
— firm, just, intelligent government. Now she was handed 
back to the old reactionary dynasts whose despotism was 
neither benevolent nor intelligent. 2 This was the age of the 
multiplication of brigandage, conspiracies, secret political 
societies. 3 The ever-ready Austrian army crushed out any local 
movement for liberal institutions (as in Naples). 

Nevertheless, here as in Germany these years were not 

1 Often known under its German title, the Zollverein. It was presently 
joined by nearly all the German states, save Austria. 

2 In many cases the old dynasts (exiled from their thrones by Napoleon) 
signalized their return by undoing just as much of the French legislation as 
possible, including much that was obviously beneficial to all concerned. The 
King of Sardinia ordered a botanic garden at Turin destroyed as being the work 
of the French invaders. In the States of the Church the Government put forth so 
much energy in suppressing the Free Masons that it had none left to crush the 
very numerous brigands. 

3 The most famous of these were the Carbonari (literally, " charcoal-burners ")• 



THE REACTION IN EUROPE 



463 



valueless. A common discontent and oppression were making 
Italians conscious of their own unity. A party known as 
" Young Italy " was being quietly organized throughout the 
peninsula by the great agitator, Mazzini. His ideal was a 
republic, but it also was the ideal of a united Italy freed from 
Austrian domination. So these silent forces continued working 
until 1848, when France taught the world another lesson in 
revolution. 

271. Louis Philippe's Rule in France (1830-48). In France 
the reign of Louis Philippe proved a grievous disappointment 
to those who expected a 
rule of liberalism. The 
new ruler claimed to be 
a "citizen -king," and 
neither lacked good qual- 
ities of the head nor of 
the heart; but it was soon 
evident that his coming 
meant personal mon- 
archy, albeit in a some- 
what changed form. The 
franchise was a little en- 
larged, so as to raise the 
whole number of voters 
to about 200,000. It was 
easy by the distribution 
of governmental favors 
and patronage to get this 

small voting body always to return a Chamber of Deputies 
agreeable to the king, and to enable him therefore to pose con- 
stantly as a " constitutional monarch." This " Orleans Mon- 
archy" depended really for its success upon the good will of 
the bourgeoisie element, — the rich manufacturing and capi- 
talist class, — more vulgar usually than the old noblesse, and 




FRENCH FAMILY GROUP, ABOUT 1 830 

(After a drawing by Ingres) 



464 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

often quite as selfish and rapacious. The country was pros- 
perous, and the king was wise enough to keep the peace with 
the rest of Europe, thus avoiding reaction at home; yet all 
the while discontent was simmering. The Republicans (who 
felt themselves cheated by the 1830 Revolution) began to lift 
their heads, and the muzzling of the newspapers, and drastic 
punishments for conspiracy could not check them. 

From 1840 to 1848, Louis Philippe's Prime Minister was 
Guizot, a scholar and statesman of noble private character, 
but possessed of the same dubious political ideas as his master. 1 
By assiduously bottling up the growing discontent, by culti- 
vating the material prosperity of France, and by leaning upon 
a packed and subservient Parliament, the twain were able to 
give to the Orleanist regime the appearance of success and 
stability. In 1848, however, a few incidents brought down the 
whole house of cards. France plunged again into revolution 
and involved almost all Europe. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — The Congress of Vienna; the "Age of Metternich"; "Legiti- 
macy"; Navarino; the "July Revolution"; the Zollverein; "Young 
Italy"; the " Orleans Monarchy." 

2. Geography — Mark the boundaries of the European states as fixed by 
the Congress of Vienna of 18 15. Compare with the boundaries before 
the French Revolution. 

3. Describe the origin and objects of the Holy Alliance. How far did it 
accomplish its purpose? 

4. What were the first important events which tended to break down 
Metternich's system. 

5. Compare the provisions of the " Charter " (section 267) with similarpro- 
visions in the British political system during the same period (chapter 
xxx) . 

6. W T hat were the prospects for political liberty in the countries of western 
Europe at the close of this period? 

1 Guizot was one of the most distinguished historical writers of France. His 
History of France is in some ways the best popular history ever written for any 
nation. This fact, however, does not make him an admirable prime minister. 



THE REACTION IN EUROPE 465 

EXERCISES 

1. Talleyrand at the Congress of Vienna. 

2. The "Liberal" movements in the European states, and the means 
taken to suppress them. 

3. The Monroe Doctrine, and its effect upon the Holy Alliance. 

4. The Greek War for Independence. 

5. The Carbonari. 

6. The "Charters" of i8i4and 1830. Compare them with each other and 
with the British system then in use. 

7. Industrial conditions in western Europe during the period. 

8. Guizot and Thiers. 

9. The Polish Revolution, 1830. 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 455-65. 

Modem accounts. Seignobos: pp. 194-207, 221-35. Duruy: pp. 630- 

43. Lewis: pp. 661-76. Lodge : chapter xxv. Gibbins: pp. 194-97. 

Robinson and Beard: vol. 1, pp. 343-62; vol. 11, pp. 1-30. 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1 848, AND THE SECOND EMPIRE 

272. The downfall of Louis Philippe (1848). In February, 
1848, the Orleanist monarchy of Louis Philippe, with Guizot 
for its prime minister, seemed on a sound basis. A careful 
system of bribery and indirect governmental corruption made 
the 200,000 electors and their Chamber of Deputies subser- 
vient instruments of the administration. The country seemed 
highly prosperous and reasonably contented. A weak party 
was, indeed, crying for an electoral reform, but Guizot had 
only a deaf ear for their demands. On February 22, the leaders 
of this rather insignificant opposition arranged to hold a pro- 
cession and a public banquet to advertise their cause. 1 The 
police, nevertheless, forbade even this demonstration, and the 
agitators seemed willing to abandon it. The people, however, 
were not informed that the demonstration was canceled and 
they swarmed the streets. 

During the day there was some petty rioting, but no serious 
clashes with the authorities: then the ensuing night gave all 
the disaffected elements in Paris their opportunity. They had 
found that the authorities feared them, and that the troops 
and police were not zealous for repression. By morning many 
formidable barricades had risen, and various quarters were in 
the possession of an armed mob. The " National Guard" was 
summoned out to suppress the insurrection, but these militia 
joined in the rising yell, " Hurrah for Reform! Down with 
Guizot! " The king hastily agreed to dismiss Guizot, and to 
take more popular ministers ; but after the lull of another night 
the mob had only gained more strength and courage. 

1 These "banquets" were arranged because public meetings of the regular 
kind were forbidden by the authorities. 



THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 467 

On the 24th, the streets of Paris again rang with the cry — 
almost hushed since Napoleon's Consulate — " Long live the 
Republic!" 

By this time the troops were thoroughly out of hand, and 
while the king, no doubt, had still hosts of well-wishers, few 
could desire to die righting for the discredited Orleans mon- 
archy. When Louis Philippe discovered that the National 
Guard was hopelessly disaffected, he made no attempt to carry 
on a civil war by fleeing to the departments and trying there 
to raise new forces. He hastily abdicated. The mob dispersed 
the Chamber of Deputies, where the monarchists were attempt- 
ing to proclaim his young grandson king. Louis Philippe fol- 
lowed the weary path to exile in England, while a Provisional 
Government held sway in Paris, and issued the decree, " The 
Republic is the Government of France! " 

273. The Second French Republic (1848-51). The French 
people did not desire a republic. The revolution had been the 
work of a very few men, and even these had no well-defined 
program. Only the weakness and unpopularity of the Orleans 
regime had given them their chance. Yet France had to sub- 
mit to their sway for the moment or plunge into civil war, and 
Paris was so completely the center of the nation that there was 
really no other rallying-point around which the discontented 
elements could gather. Under these circumstances it is not 
surprising that the Revolution ran a strange course. A leading 
spirit, Louis Blanc, commanded a strong faction of the Paris 
laboring classes which stood not merely for a republic, but for 
something very akin to economic socialism. The most imme- 
diate attempt in this radical program was the setting-up of 
" national workshops," in which the unemployed or underpaid 
of Paris could find steady work at good wages. 1 It seemed as 
if the happy day of the Paris laboring classes had come, but 

1 The workers were to be kept busy manufacturing articles needed by the 
Government: e.g., saddles for the cavalry; army uniforms, etc. 



4 68 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



the proposition awoke the disgust of all the capitalistic and 
conservative element in France, and added to the ill feeling 
toward the Republic. 

Nevertheless, a National Assembly elected by manhood 
suffrage was duly gathered to give France a new Republican 
constitution. It drew up a scheme based largely on the 
example of America; with a single legislature of 750 members 



in 1 11 






A LABOR DEMONSTRATION IN PARIS, 1848 
The building is the Hotel de Ville. (From L Illustration) 

and a president to be elected every four years by the people. 
Before the new Government had been inducted into office, the 
reverberations from all Europe told how the events in France 
had been only the first of several revolutions. 

274. The revolution in Germany. "Europe finds herself 
to-day in the presence of a second 1793," exclaimed old Metter- 
nich at Vienna when the tale from Paris came to him. He was 
largely right. In Germany and Italy there were numberless 
liberal agitators ready to take courage and example from the 



THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 469 

great deeds in Paris. In Prussia there was a king, Frederick 
William IV, who had already shown himself with unsteady 
leanings toward liberalism. 1 In 1847, ne na( i convoked at 
Berlin a kind of legislative assembly for all Prussia. The new 
body had only the power to petition the king and to vote new 
taxes, but it was a beginning, even though Frederick William 
declared before it his dislike of constitutions. "I will never 
allow," spoke he, "a sheet of paper, like a second Providence, 
to make its paragraphs our rulers and substitute them for the 
ancient faithfulness." 

In 1848, however, Frederick William, like practically every 
other German prince, found himself almost at bay among his 
subjects. Metternich had fled the rioters of Vienna for Eng- 
land. In March, after hot street righting, Frederick William 
proclaimed a constituent assembly for Prussia : in May another 
such body was proclaimed in Austria. There were demonstra- 
tions in South Germany in favor of a republic. These were 
repressed, but the German princes were in terror. As the only 
outlet from calamity, a German National Assembly, chosen 
by popular vote, was convoked at Frankfort-on-Main, in May, 
1848. For the first time the German people at large had the 
privilege of casting their ballots as citizens, of helping to shape 
their government, and of acting together as a nation. 

The Frankfort Parliament met amid the highest hopes. Its 
end caused a corresponding disappointment. There was little 
political experience in Germany, but there were many political 
doctrinaires who would yield nothing to the exclusion of their 
pet theories; there were many wild radicals who really fought 
the battles of the reactionaries. Much time was wasted in 

1 Frederick William IV (1840-61) was a really talented and well-intentioned 
man. He possessed a deeply religious nature and an earnest desire to accomplish 
the weal of his people. Unfortunately the taint of insanity was upon him. He 
soon displayed an extreme fickleness of policy and presently became hopelessly 
eccentric. In the last years of his reign he became helpless, and the Government 
passed under the regency of his brother. 



470 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

petty wrangling; then matters came down to a final issue. 
Germany was to be organized into a federated empire; but 
which great unit was to supply the emperor — Prussia or 
Austria? The upshot finally was that the imperial crown was 
offered Frederick William of Prussia. The eccentric king had 
already displayed his disgust for the revolutionary program: 
he had no desire for an imperial crown offered by a merely 
elective assembly. Accepting the crown meant giving mortal 
offense to Austria: probably it implied war. He declined the 
crown (1849), an d the whole movement for a German Empire 
came, for the nonce, to nothing. 

Already the old Governments had recovered their poise 
and grip : especially they had made sure of the loyalty of their 
armies. Reactionary ministers were put in power. The newly 
summoned parliaments were dissolved. 1 The movement of 
1848, begun with such promise, ended in gloomy failure. Multi- 
tudes of earnest patriots and liberals grew sick at heart. 

275. The revolution in Austria-Hungary. In the Austrian 
lands, at least, the revolutionists went down fighting. After it 
had been necessary for the Government to crush the insur- 
gents at Vienna by regular bombardment, the Magyars, a 
proud, masterful race constituting the dominant element in 
Hungary, had seized the opportunity for making their country 
almost independent of the Germanized Vienna Government. 
When now the Austrians tried to force the Hungarians into 
becoming members of a single centralized monarchy, the 
Magyars rose in revolt. They declared themselves independ- 
ent of Austria, and, led by their gallant chief Kossuth, made 
a magnificent resistance. Austria, unaided, might never have 
subdued them; but if Hungary could win independence, why 
not also Poland? For the sake of her own Polish possessions, 

1 In 1850 a weak and illiberal constitution was put and kept in force in 
Prussia. 

It was after the failure of the 1848 movement that thousands of prominent 
and enlightened Germans, e.g., Carl Schurz, emigrated to the United States. 



THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 471 

Russia came to Austria's aid. The Magyars were overwhelmed 
and crushed by the czar's armies. One more revolution had 
promised well and had failed. 

276. The revolution in Italy. Another cycle of unsuccessful 
revolution was in Italy. The news of the flight of Metternich 
from Vienna had been followed by uproar in every Italian state. 
Every prince, including even the Pope, had been compelled 
to grant a constitution to his threatening subjects. Above all, 
Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, had come to the aid of the 
people of Milan and Venice, who had risen in one spasm of 
fury, and thrown off the hateful Austrian yoke. In Italy also 
for the moment all went well. Pope Pius IX (just come to the 
pontificate) was regarded at once as capable and open to liberal 
ideas; and the troubles of Austria with her more northerly 
subjects gave a good hope of success in arms against her. 

The campaign, however, soon lagged. Charles Albert had 
reckoned on the support of the troops of all the other Italian 
states, but he was sustained only very imperfectly. After 
some indecisive fighting, he was finally badly defeated by the 
Austrians at Custozza (July 25, 1848) and forced to make a 
truce. Milan was recaptured, and the first phase of the Italian 
revolution was over. 

But now that the King of Sardinia had retired from the 
national cause, the more radical Republican agitators felt 
under no restraint in carrying out their program. Republics 
were proclaimed in Florence and Venice. In Rome, after some 
vain attempts at half-measures and the assassination of the 
liberal and enlightened minister, Rossi, whom the Pope had 
called to power, passions ran so high that Pius felt himself 
unsafe in the city. He fled to the King of Naples, and the 
" Roman Republic" was once more constituted in the city of 
the Popes and Caesars. 

In 1849 came the end to this second daring and ill-consid- 
ered movement. Charles Albert, yielding to general clamors, 



472 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

renewed the war, but his weak kingdom had no chance against 
the rehabilitated military power of Austria. March 23 saw 
his utter defeat at Novara. Crushed by this failure of a great 
hope to become leader of a free and federated Italy, the king 
abdicated in favor of his son, Victor Emmanuel, who made 
what peace he could with Austria. 

The ephemeral Italian republics now rapidly collapsed. 
Blockade and starvation forced Venice to surrender after a 
brave defense. Florence succumbed speedily. The new Presi- 
dent of France, Louis Napoleon, 1 wishing to conciliate the 
Catholic party at home, sent a French army to Rome that 
presently overcame the gallant but hopeless resistance of the 
Republican leader, Garibaldi (1849). 

Italy seemed again under her old fetters. Her conquerors 
abolished all liberal concessions; and stringent policing, cen- 
sorship, spying, and arbitrary imprisonment were the order 
of the day. Only at one point was there a real gain. The con- 
stitution granted to the Kingdom of Sardinia was not abol- 
ished, and that constitution was one day to be the constitution 
for all Italy. 2 

277. The Assembly in Paris (1848). While these unsuccess- 
ful revolutions were running their courses in Germany, Austria, 
and Italy, the parent revolution in France was also drifting 
upon quicksands. The nation had accepted the Republic as 
the alternative to anarchy, but there was no great enthusi- 
asm for it. The conservative property-holding classes of the 
departments 3 conceived a strong prejudice against the new 

1 See section 278. 

2 It is said that King Victor Emmanuel was given to understand by Austria 
that he would be granted much better terms of peace if he abolished this con- 
stitution, but he would not break faith with his people, and most nobly re- 
fused. 

3 The modern Frenchman of the smaller cities and villages is a very different 
person from the often excitable, volatile Parisian. The typical Frenchman of the 
departments is solid, deliberate, thrifty, and extremely conservative in his 
political changes as in many things else. Unfortunately for the stability of 



THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 473 

scheme of national workshops, and against the clamors of the 
Paris laboring classes for a regime of what seemed extreme 
radicalism. The National Assembly, while engaged in mak- 
ing the constitution, presently voted the " national workshops " 
closed. In blind wrath the radical labor element in Paris 
rushed to arms, " Bread or lead!" rang the cry. The art of 
building barricades had been too well learned in previous insur- 
rections. Once more they rose in the Paris streets, transform- 
ing the industrial quarters into veritable fortresses. 

The Assembly intrusted the situation to General Cavaignac, 
who with the regular troops and [the loyal part of the militia 
crushed the rebels with a heavy hand. The streets of Paris 
were raked with artillery. The insurgents were ill led and unor- 
ganized, but resisted like wild beasts at bay. The Govern- 
ment, of course, triumphed presently and the prisoners were 
ruthlessly shot, imprisoned, or transported. For the moment 
the Socialists were crushed; but the after effect of these direful 
" June Days " was long and disastrous. The new Republic 
seemed utterly discredited with the well-to-do classes, if the 
first thing it could produce was only a reign of anarchy; on the 
other hand, among the Paris workingmen, for the moment 
cowed and helpless, there was enkindled a hatred for the capi- 
talist classes which exists even unto this day. 

278. Louis Napoleon, President of France (1848-51). Amid 
such ill omens the new constitution was put into effect, and 
the French nation was called upon to vote for " President of the 
Republic." The Republican politicians who posed as candi- 
dates were hated or distrusted by most of the voters. When 
the ballots were counted it was found that Louis Napoleon was 
the choice of 5,400,000 Frenchmen. His nearest rival had only 

France, it has been very easy for the Parisians to gain control of the Govern- 
ment. No other country is so centralized politically as France, or so utterly 
dependent upon its capital. This concentration of all the governmental machin- 
ery is largely the work of Napoleon I, and forms one of the most important and 
lasting legacies which he left to France. 



474 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

1,400,000. A new and remarkable figure was about to write his 
name into European history. 

Louis Napoleon was a nephew of the great Corsican. He 
was only six years old when his uncle had been hurled from 
power. He had spent most of his days in a weary exile, now in 
Germany, now Switzerland, now England. A small band of 
adherents treated him as the successor to his mighty uncle's 
rights to the throne of France, l but the world at large had 
not taken him very seriously. Twice he had attempted a kind 
of filibustering expedition into France. Twice he had failed 
ignominiously, and the second time he was seized and impris- 
oned. In 1846, he escaped from custody to England. After 
the events of 1848, he presented himself in Paris, declared 
himself enthusiastic for the new Republic, and anxious only 
to serve his country. Men still regarded him as impractical, 
insignificant, and in no wise dangerous. 

But Louis Napoleon, if not a statesman, was one of the most 
adept politicians in history. He represented himself as believ- 
ing that France needed a great tribune of the people, a kind 
of autocrat whose power came because he was the efficient, 
concrete means of executing the popular will. 2 The word 
"democracy" was very frequently on his lips. Most skillfully 
he traded upon the potent name, "Napoleon." The miseries 
caused by the great conqueror had now been largely forgotten. 
The peasantry remembered him only as the demigod who had 
shed glory upon France. The average country voter could 
not in the least understand what had happened at Paris. He 
only knew that the other candidates meant nothing to him. 
" The former royalists flocked to Louis Napoleon. The peas- 
ants had had no political education. They understood but one 

1 Napoleon's own unfortunate son, "the King of Rome," had died in 1832 
at the court of his grandfather, the Austrian Emperor. 

2 In 1839, he had published a book setting forth these views ("Napoleonic 
Ideas"), in which he represented his uncle as the champion of this kind of a 
popular monarchy. 



THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 475 

name, that of the Emperor Napoleon. They voted for that 
name." As a result Louis Napoleon was swept into the presi- 
dency. 

279. The Coup d'Etat (1851). It required about three years 
for Louis Napoleon to transform the new Republic into a 
monarchy. The control cf the army and of a great centralized 
corps of administrative officials lodged tremendous powers 
in the hands of the new president. He used them without 
scruple. By packing the public offices, by steadily cultivating 
the good will of the army, he was soon intrenched in power. 
The next step was to quarrel with the legislature, with which 
he was supposed to work, and he easily maneuvered the case 
so that he could pose as the champion of the liberties of the 
entire people, especially of the lowest classes. When all was 
ready the president struck. On December 2, 1851, 1 he dis- 
solved the legislature by armed force and ordered a new elec- 
tion. Political leaders who might have made trouble were 
promptly arrested. A portion of the Assembly tried to meet in 
defiance of the president and decree his suspension. Before it 
could act, the troops dispersed the deputies. In Paris and the 
departments were a few spasmodic risings against the president, 
merely great enough to justify him in claiming to be the cham- 
pion of order against anarchy. All the Republican leaders 
were imprisoned or banished. 

The constitution was promptly altered to give the president 
a term of ten years and almost dictatorial powers. The 
French voters were then summoned to vote their approval of 
the new regime. The official report was that 7,481,000 voted 
"Yes"; 647,000, " No." It was really impossible to vote 
"No " seriously. The repudiation of Louis Napoleon would 
have set up a reign of mere anarchy. 2 

1 The day was artfully selected as the anniversary of the battle of Austerlitz, 
the most glorious of Napoleon's victories. 

2 No alternative proposition was before the French voters. To have repudi- 
ated Louis Napoleon would simply have cut the country adrift. In fairness it 



476 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



Within a year (1852) this sham republic was called by its 
proper name. The president was duly voted " Emperor of 
the French" as Napoleon III, and the one-time exile and 
filibusterer took possession of the throne of the great Corsican. 
280. The Second Empire: Napoleon III (1852-70). Louis 
Napoleon has been described as the "Great Adventurer"; 

again he has been branded as 
"the Little," or 4 the Pinch- 
beck, Napoleon." These de- 
rogatory titles are in the main 
deserved. He was not without 
considerable kindness of heart, 
and he was open to warm and 
generous impulses, but he was 
first and last an opportunist 
and a self-seeker, rather than 
a statesman and a patriot. He 
took extreme advantage of the 
willingness of Frenchmen to 
submit themselves to one whom 
they believed to be a great 
man. To this end he traded 
on the glories of his victorious 
uncle, and strove desperately 
to convince the nation that it 
was entering again upon a long 
period of leadership among the nations. He was really in an 
anomalous position. He neither stood for an ideal of personal 
liberty, as did the Republicans; nor could he champion the 
system of a great past, as did the Monarchists. l Any disaster, 

should be said that the majority of Frenchmen desired peace and law and order 
rather than the outward forms of political liberty, and they voted for Louis 
Napoleon as being likely to give them a "safe and sane" government. 

1 The Monarchists were, of course, now split between the Orleanists and the 
Legitimists (supporters of Charles X's heirs). The Republicans naturally made a 




AN IMPERIAL MOUNTED LANCER: 
TIME OF NAPOLEON III 
{From a model in the Musee de VArmec 
Paris) 



THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 477 

any notable wane of popularity, would undo him. There was 
no spirit of loyalty among his subjects to fall back upon in 
any hour of peril. Under these circumstances the " Second 
Empire" seems one long experiment: the Government trying 
desperately by one turn after another to win abiding favor 
with the nation. 

" The Empire is peace," Napoleon III had announced shortly 
before taking the throne, in order to allay fears that he would 
imitate Napoleon I by plunging into incessant wars. Peace was 
secured at home by a strict censorship of the press, and by 
a Chamber of Deputies which could vote only on measures 
proposed by the Government. x Police spies were everywhere. 
An officious Minister of Education even commanded all pro- 
fessors "to shave their mustaches that they might drop from 
their appearance, as well as from their manners, the last ves- 
tiges of anarchy." 2 Thanks to drastic supervision like this, the 
nation was for a while quiet and apparently contented; espe- 
cially as the rule of Napoleon III was accompanied with internal 
commercial prosperity and seemingly also with outward suc- 
cess. Despite his promise of a peace policy, in 1854-56 he 
joined with England in the victorious Crimean War against 
Russia. 3 In 1859 again, he was tolerably successful against 
Austria in Italy. 4 

After i860, however, the popularity of the " Second Empire " 
rapidly waned. Napoleon had, indeed, contrived to foster 
French commerce and industry. He caused Baron Haussmann 
to direct a great rebuilding of Paris which made it the most 

third French faction. This division among his ill-wishers of course made it much 
easier for Napoleon III to keep his throne. 

1 Even with this weak Chamber of Deputies, Napoleon III took pains to 
insure subservient members by proclaiming an "official candidate" for each 
seat. Persons so recommended were almost sure of election as against candidates 
running all alone and presumably in opposition to the emperor. 

2 The wearing of a beard and, to a less extent, a mustache, was regarded at 
the time as a sign of favoring "Republican" principles! 

3 See chapter xl, section 315. 4 See chapter xxxvn, section 283. 



478 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

beautiful city in the world. l He also instituted a magnificent 
court, where his empress, Eugenie (a Spanish noblewoman), 
reigned as the arbitress of elegant fashion. Nevertheless, the 
foundations of his power were always rotten. He had been 
compelled to surround himself with ministers of like spirit 
to himself, self-seeking politicians, clever, corrupt, unmoral. 
Paris was never more " gay," artistic, glittering, more charged 
with the spirit of " delightful wickedness," than in the last 
years of the Second Empire; but it was a prosperity that 
rested on flimsy bases. In 1862, Napoleon embarked on a vain 
and disastrous attempt to set up an " empire," dependent on 
France, in Mexico. The affair failed and cost him money and 
prestige. Across the border, the events of 1866 suddenly pro- 
claimed Prussia a mighty rival to France as the first nation of 
Europe. 2 To bolster up his tottering throne, Napoleon made 
political concessions to his subjects. In 1869, his regime really 
became that of a liberal and constitutional monarchy with a 
"responsible" ministry. The new experiment, however, was 
never fairly tried. In 1870, the "Great Adventure" ended 
amid the cannon smoke of disastrous war. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Louis Blanc; "National Workshops"; Frederick William IV; 
Kossuth; Charles Albert; Pius IX; Garibaldi; the "June Days"; the 
Coup d'Etat; the "Great Adventurer." 

2. Geography — Mark the lands of the Austrian Empire, showing the 
different races. 

3. Compare the Revolution of 1848 in France with that of 1830, as to 
causes, the nature of each, and the results. How far did each seem to 
reflect the wishes of the whole nation? 

4. How far was the French Revolution (1789) responsible for the revolu- 
tions of 1848? How far was Metternich responsible? 

1 It was at this time that the magnificent boulevards were laid out, so distinc- 
tive of modern Paris. A main reason for making these T fine streets, however, 
was to make it easy to clear the city with cannon, and to put a stop to barri- 
cade fighting. 

2 See chapter xxxvm, section 291. 



THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 479 

5. Why did the revolutions (except in France) fail? 

6. The career and character of Louis Napoleon. What conditions made it 
possible for him to become emperor? 

EXERCISES 

1. Socialism in the revolutions of 1848. 

2. The different races in the Austrian Empire and their influence upon 
the Revolutions of 1848. 

3. Industrial conditions in France under Napoleon III. The Suez Canal. 

4. The French in Mexico. 

5. The liberal concessions made by Napoleon, 1860-70. 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 466-79. 

Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 204-07, 235-60. Duruy: pp. 643-57. 

Lewis: pp. 676-79. Lodge: chapter xxvi, sections 1-20, 24-27. 

Pattison: pp. 391-403, 419-30. Robinson and Beard: vol. 11, pp. 53-86. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

HOW CAVOUR MADE ITALY 

281. Italy after 1848. The Italian revolution of 1848 had 
failed. Patriots had not to look far for the reasons why their 
country was divided among seven principalities or provinces * 
and did not form a united, prosperous nation. 

(a) Even if Italy were united, she was no match probably 
for the overwhelming military power of Austria. 

(b) The Italian nationalists were themselves divided between 
the radical Republicans and those merely desirous of a consti- 
tutional monarchy. 

(c) Pope Pius IX, who had begun his pontificate as a liberal 
ruler, had been panic-stricken by the events of 1848, and had 
swung the immense influence of the Church against the cause 
of revolution. 

Outside of the limited territory of the King of Sardinia, 
general reaction now prevailed for several years. Liberty of 
the press had ended almost as suddenly as it had been granted. 
Austrian garrisons held down various districts considered 
especially full of disaffection. Most of the national leaders 
were in exile. When Pius IX returned to Rome, he granted an 
amnesty to the rebels against his power, but there were 283 
exceptions! The rule of King Ferdinand of Naples was notori- 
ously severe. " King Bomba " his groaning people called him. 
His prisons and galleys were filled with political offenders; and 
even the Powers opposed to the Italian patriots deplored his 
absurd tyranny as sure to lead to bloody rebellion. Some of 

1 It is well to recall that at this time the Italian states were: (i) The Papal 
States; (2) the Austrian provinces (Lombardy and Venetia); (3) the King- 
dom of Sardinia; (4) the Kingdom of Naples; (5, 6, 7) the Grand Duchies of 
Modena, Tuscany, and Parma. 



HOW CAVOUR MADE ITALY 



481 



the other states were hardly better. In 1854, the Duke of 
Parma was murdered in the public street after a reign marked 
by reckless despotism. The Dukes of Tuscany and Modena, 
though somewhat more reasonable, were princes of the Aus- 




Ceded to France 1 860 

DATES show the years of annexation 
to tne Kingdom of Sardinia, to make 
a United Italy 
Lombard* and Venetia were Austrian 
Provinces before their annexation I 



10° Longitude East 12°'from Greenwich 14° 



ITALY SINCE 1848 



trian line and took their orders from Vienna. Seldom had there 
been a more miserable time in the beautiful yet often oppressed 
peninsula of Italy than in these early fifties. 

282. Cavoufs policy in Sardinia (1849-58). In only one 
quarter was there a promise of better things. In Sardi- 



482 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

nia 1 reigned Victor Emmanuel (1849-78), a man of singu- 
lar loyalty, integrity, and open-mindedness. He came of the 
" House of Savoy," an old dynasty that had produced no world 
conquerors, but many highly capable princes. A great genius 
the king was not, but he loved his country, he kept faith with 
his people, and he had an unselfish ambition to serve them. 
Italians do right in counting him the real hero of modern Italy. 

And yet Victor Emmanuel's service to Italy is largely 
summed up in this : he recognized and kept in power a master 
statesman and minister, the Count of Cavour. 

Cavour was a Piedmontese nobleman who had been forced 
to leave the army in 1831 on account of liberal opinions. He 
became interested in scientific agriculture, and devoted himself 
to the study of advanced farming. To this end he made many 
visits to England and became familiar with the English con- 
stitutional system. After the disastrous year of 1848, he was 
called to the Sardinian ministry. In 1852, he became Prime 
Minister. From that time onward he strove with the power of 
an ardent and honorable genius to drive Austria from Italy, 
and to unite Italy under the rule of Victor Emmanuel. 

If Sardinia was to spread herself over Italy, Cavour held 
that she must prove her right to worthy leadership. To estab- 
lish this, he carried through the Sardinian Parliament many 
laws greatly improving agriculture, commerce, and finance. 
The number of unoccupied monks and of convents seemed to 
him excessive. He did not hesitate to defy the censures of the 
Vatican by greatly reducing the number of these ecclesiastics, 
and to place a tax on the Church lands. The Pope threatened 
Victor Emmanuel personally with the wrath of Heaven for 
this, but the king refused to disavow his minister. 

1 Although the official name for this kingdom was " Sardinia," the bulk of its 
population lay on the mainland in the territory of Piedmont. The whole realm 
had only 5,000,000 inhabitants, but in the Piedmontese part of them were num- 
bered some of the steadiest, thriftiest, most capable folk in all Italy: very unlike 
the turbulent and unstable Neapolitan peasantry. 



HOW CAVOUR MADE ITALY 483 

In 1854, Cavour sent a small Sardinian army to aid the 
French and English in the Crimean War. 1 He had little direct 
interest in this struggle; but his act enabled him to participate 
in the Congress of Powers which met at Paris (1856) to wind 
up the contest. At the conference he was able to speak plain 
words as to the misrule of Austria in Italy, and to lay his case 
before all Europe. 

All this time he had been spinning the webs of private 
intrigue very successfully. Above all, he had convinced the 
Italian Republicans that there was no hope for their entire 
program, but much hope for a liberal monarchy over united 
Italy if they cast in their lot with Victor Emmanuel. " Make 
Italy" wrote Manin, a Republican chief, to the king, " and I 
and all other Republican patriots are for you and with you." 
But Cavour needed something besides the help of the Repub- 
lican faction: most skillfully he was striving to enlist the alli- 
ance of Napoleon III. 

283. The intervention of Napoleon HI (1859). Louis Na- 
poleon had belonged in his youth and in his days of exile to 
a secret society (the " Carbonari ") pledged to Italian inde- 
pendence. After he became emperor and tried to pose as the 
arbiter of Europe, the chance to make an alliance with Sardinia 
and to hurl Austria (the old rival of France) from Italy ap- 
peared tempting. Had not Napoleon I won his first real 
glories in Italy? The Pope had now, however, tied himself up 
completely with Austria, and Napoleon III hesitated to alien- 
ate the very powerful pro-Papal party in France. To conciliate 
that party he had sent French troops in 1849 to overthrow the 
short-lived " Roman Republic." Cavour now devoted all his 
matchless energies as a manipulator of men to convincing 
Napoleon that it was both safe and advantageous to intervene 
in Italy: and a strange incident aided the Sardinian minister. 

In 1858, an Italian patriot enthusiast, Orsini, threw a bomb 
1 See chapter xl, section 315, 



484 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

at Napoleon III while on his way to the Paris Opera. Orsini 
was seized and presently, of course, tried and executed. Before 
his execution he sent Napoleon an appeal proving himself to 
be no ordinary conspirator. He had attempted to murder 
Napoleon because he believed him the chief obstacle to Italian 
freedom. He reminded the emperor that " Italy's sons had 
shed their blood for his uncle "; and he said again, " Free my 
country, and the blessings of 25,000,000 citizens will follow 
you into the next world." Napoleon III, selfish and unscrupu- 
lous schemer that he was, did not lack a nobler and an emo- 
tional side. He was touched by Orsini's appeal: perhaps, too, 
he feared that Orsini would find imitators. In 1858, he had an 
interview with Cavour. A private treaty was soon made: 
Sardinia was to be given Austrian Italy after it had been won 
by French armies. In return Victor Emmanuel would cede 
Nice and Savoy to France. l 

It still required some nice manipulation by Cavour to bring 
about the war, so that it should not seem as if Austria was 
attacked out of sheer wantonness. The Austrians themselves 
foolishly gave the justification. They launched an ultimatum 
requiring Sardinia to disarm her forces. The answer was a defi- 
ance from both Sardinia and France. 

" I am leaving the last sitting of the Piedmontese [Sardinian] 
Parliament," said Cavour gleefully , the night war was voted. 
He was right. The next Parliament would represent all Italy. 

284. The making of the Italian Kingdom. In this war of 
1859 neither France nor Austria had great generals nor well- 
organized armies. The Sardinians were brave and tolerably 
well handled; probably it was their courageous fighting that 
turned the scale; but the campaign was conducted very unsci- 
entifically on both sides. On June 4, the allies won the battle 

1 These were small districts west of the Alps, belonging to Victor Emmanuel, 
but really more French than Italian in language and civilization. It was a heavy 
sorrow for the king to give them up, however. 




CAVOUR 

Italian statesman 
Born 1810 Died 1861 



HOW CAVOUR MADE ITALY 485 

of Magenta, which gave them the control of Lombardy and 
possession of Milan. The Austrians drew back and stood at 
bay to cover Venetia. At Solferino was a second great battle. 
There was bad generalship on both sides, 1 but the French 
somehow blundered into a second victory. All the world 
expected Napoleon to force his way now to Venice. To the 
amazement of everybody and to the especial distress of 
Cavour, he held instead a personal interview with Emperor 
Francis Joseph (at Villafranca) and announced a preliminary 
peace. Probably his nerves had been shaken by the slaughter 
at Solferino. Austria had still great righting power, and very 
likely also Napoleon had begun at length to realize that a 
strong native power in Italy would be an unwelcome rival to 
France. 

By the arrangement of Villafranca, Sardinia was to be given 
Lombardy, but Venetia was to remain in Austrian bondage. 
Napoleon had pledged an " Italy free to the Adriatic." Here 
was the fulfillment of his vow ! 

But the campaign was not destined to end simply with the 
gaining of Milan. In Modena, Parma, Tuscany, and the 
Romagna, 2 the moment the Austrian power had weakened, 
Provisional Governments sprang up, and sent their grand, dukes 
or cardinal legates flying. By overwhelming majorities, on 
popular vote, these countries declared that they wished to be 
annexed to Sardinia. In the Romagna a constitutional con- 
vention declared that it did not desire the continuance of the 
temporal government of the Pope, and that it did desire to 
pass under Victor Emmanuel. Napoleon III was sorely per- 
plexed at this tempest he had raised. An " Italy," far greater 
than he had anticipated, was rising before his eyes. His fail- 
ure to win Venetia for the Italians, as pledged, made it hard 

1 For example, when the Austrian Emperor ordered the reserves to come up, 
he was informed that they had been started in full retreat two hours before. 

2 The northern part of the Papal States, lying mainly toward the Adriatic. 



4§6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

for him to complain to them now. He vainly advised Pope 
Pius IX to accept the loss of Romagna. The Pope steadily 
refused, and Napoleon was presently bribed into allowing the 
revolution to run its course, by being given Nice and Savoy. 1 
Victor Emmanuel's kingdom had thus been more than doubled, 
but it was speedily destined to grow still more. 

285. The conquest of Naples. In the south of Italy and in 
Sicily the Neapolitan kings of the House of Bourbon had made 
the land groan under their tyranny. Victor Emmanuel had 
offered King Ferdinand an alliance, and begged him to grant 
his subjects a constitution. Both suggestions were haughtily 
rejected. Cavour and his master were now in a position to 
strike effectively. 

The famous patriot, Garibaldi, a past-master in filibustering 
and irregular warfare, was allowed to collect one thousand 
volunteers (the memorable "Marsala Thousand") in Victor 
Emmanuel's dominions, and embark them at Genoa for a dash 
to Sicily. Cavour sent a note to the Great Powers, after 
Garibaldi had sailed, " regretting " this attack upon a friendly 
kingdom; but privately the Sardinian naval and harbor 
authorities had been given a broad hint not to discover this 
breach of neutrality. 2 

Garibaldi landed at Marsala, near Palermo (May, i860), 
the old capital city of Sicily. The population rose against the 
Neapolitan king's generals. There was desperate fighting, but 
the volunteers in the red " Garibaldi shirts " carried all be- 
fore them. In a few weeks Sicily was free. The liberating 
chief declared himself temporary dictator acting for " Victor 
Emmanuel, King of Italy." 

1 To which he had lost his former claim by his failure to win Venetia. His 
acceptance of these lands after breaking his own pact destroyed his rights to 
Italian gratitude. 

2 Victor Emmanuel's admiral received a note from Cavour: "Try to place 
yourself between Garibaldi and the Neapolitan cruisers. I hope you understand 
me." "My lord," was the answer, "I believe I do understand you." 



HOW CAVOUR MADE ITALY 487 

The next move was toward the mainland. In vain King 
Francis II 1 tried to quiet his subjects by proclaiming a " con- 
stitution." The Neapolitans had had enough of such sham 
reforms. Garibaldi's march from Reggio northward to Naples 
was almost a triumphal procession, the people everywhere wel- 
coming the " Liberator." Francis II fled Naples and took 
refuge in the strong seaside fortress of Gaeta. There he stood 
at bay, and for the moment matters looked perilous, for 
Garibaldi was threatening to seize Rome (which Napoleon 
would never have allowed) , and the Papalists and the Austrians 
were enraged beyond measure. Cavour struck boldly by send- 
ing Victor Emmanuel's own troops into Naples, and the king 
in person took over the command of the war against Francis II. 
The unfortunate Bourbon held out until 1861, and then Gaeta 
capitulated: all the rest of the Kingdom of Naples had long 
since been annexed. Another great stroke had been accom- 
plished for Italian unity. 

Napoleon III had viewed this seizure of Naples with the 
greatest alarm, but he could find no tolerable pretext for 
intervention. 2 A large party in southern Italy and Sicily still 
desired a republic, but they yielded to the logic that demanded 
a safe union under the House of Savoy. In 1861, a Parliament 
for nearly the whole peninsula met at Turin, and proclaimed 
Victor Emmanuel, "King of Italy, by the Grace of God and 
the Act of the People." 

Cavour, the prime mover in all this great achievement, 
was not destined to contemplate his handiwork for long. His 
health succumbed to the intense strain. He died in June, 1861. 
" Italy is made — all is safe!" were his dying words, and he 
was right. Few statesmen have been more adroit, patriotic, 
or successful than he. His motives had been pure,' and usually 

1 Who had very recently succeeded his evil father, Ferdinand II. 

3 Cavour had assured him, "We are forced to take action [in the interests of 
law and order in Naples]," and Napoleon is said to have washed his hands of the 
whole affair. 



488 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

his methods. 1 Venetia and Rome were still to be annexed, but 
in the main a united Italy had been won. In 1858, Victor 
Emmanuel had reigned over 5,000,000 " Sardinians." In 186 1, 
he reigned over 22,000,000 "Italians." 

286. The winning of Venetia (1866). Venetia fell to Italy 
in 1866, when Prussia and Austria engaged in war, 2 and the 
former needed an ally. The Italian troops were poorly led and 
lost a great battle at Custozza, but the mere fact of their 
attack prevented the Austrians from using their full forces 
against Prussia. After the Austrian defeat in Germany, the 
treaty of peace gave Venetia to Victor Emmanuel. Only one 
great unit was lacking now to a United Italy — Rome. 

287. The winning of Rome (1870). Rome, by all tradition, 
was the only proper capital of Italy : but Rome was the seat of 
the Papacy, andyPius IX's Government earnestly protested 
that it was impossible for it to consider giving up the city which 
the Popes had ruled so long, and equally impossible for the 
Pope to consider himself free in his spiritual functions if he 
was not also the temporal ruler of his own city. All attempts at 
compromise and conciliation failed. In 1862 and 1867, Gari- 
baldi attempted with filibustering expeditions to end the 
"Temporal Power." As a result, Napoleon III placed a 
French garrison in Rome. In 1870, however, the French 
troops were withdrawn to meet the invading Prussians at 
home, and Victor Emmanuel's ministers could act again. 
Pius IX announced that he could yield only to force, but his 
weak army was quickly overcome by the Italian generals and 
the royal troops marched into "the breach in the Porta Pia." 
The Pope shut himself in the Vatican, declaring himself so 
hemmed in and insulted that he was "a constructive pris- 

1 Cavour stands in honorable contrast in many respects to his great compeer, 
Bismarck. He did not wrest his word, "Fight the Devil with fire," or indulge in 
drastic and unconstitutional methods to achieve his end. Few public men have 
ever accomplished so much as he, and left cleaner political characters. 

2 See chapter xxxviii, section 291. 



HOW CAVOUR MADE ITALY 489 

oner." 1 By a vote of 130,000 to 1500 the people of Rome 
declared for annexation to Italy, and the royal capital was 
promptly moved to the Tiber. 

The last stone had been placed, and the national edifice was 
complete. Italy was now a united, constitutional nation, able 
to rank among the Great Powers of Europe; and Victor 
Emmanuel goes down among the great kings of history. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — King Victor Emmanuel; Orsini; the Peace of Villafranca; 
Garibaldi. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Savoy; Magenta; Solferino; Venice; the Romagna; 
Genoa; Palermo; Naples; Gaeta. 

(b) Mark the states of Italy in 1849. 

3. Compare the conditions in Sardinia with those in the rest of Italy. 

4. What was Cavour's aim? Make a summary of the steps by which his 
aim was accomplished. 

5. What part did Napoleon III play in the making of Italy? What were 
his motives? 

6. What was the attitude of Pius IX toward Cavour and his work? 

7. How did Prussia contribute to the making of Italy? 

EXERCISES 

1. Mazzini and "Young Italy." 

2. The Risorgimento movement. 

3. The character of Cavour; his internal policy. 

4. Garibaldi; his relations with Cavour. 

5. The Sardinian Constitution (1848). 

6. Victor Emmanuel II. 

7. The struggle for freedom in Italy as reflected in the poems of Mrs. 
Browning. 

1 After the conquest the Italian Government declared the Pope an independ- 
ent sovereign who ruled his palace of the Vatican with absolute right and who 
had all the privileges of a king; a considerable annual income also was granted 
him. Pius IX and his successors have firmly refused to accept this settlement, 
have considered themselves as "morally prisoners," and have denounced the 
House of Savoy and its ministers. No Pope since 1870 has left the grounds of the 
Vatican palace to traverse the streets of Rome — the city in which they claim 
they can appear as nothing less than sovereign rulers. 



49 o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 479-84. 

Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 269-81. Pattison: pp. 391-418. Lodge: 
chapter xxvn, pp. 1-6, 11,17. Robinson and Beard: vol. 11, pp. 90-109. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 

HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 

288. After the 1848 Revolution in Germany. The 1848 revo- 
lution and its failure caused the most intense disappointment 
to all German liberals. Practically nothing seemed accom- 
plished. The Fatherland seemed as divided and despot-ridden 
as before. It was perfectly evident (1) that the German people 
needed a long, painful political education before they could 
exercise such rights of self-government as did the English; 
(2) that until either Prussia or Austria was eliminated from 
the politics of the weak, worthless German Federation, 1 real 
progress was out of the question. The nation obviously needed 
a single leader, and yet neither the king at Berlin nor the 
emperor at Vienna could accept the law from the other. 

To eliminate Prussia from the complete German question 
was impossible, for the great bulk of King Frederick William's 
subjects were ardent and genuine Teutons, despite a consider- 
able Polish element in the eastern provinces. Impartial critics 
would have urged the elimination of Austria. Barely one 
quarter of Francis Joseph's people spoke the German tongue. 
What part had the swarming Croats, Magyars, Poles, and 
Czechs in the life of the Fatherland? Unfortunately, however, 
the Austrian Government was very loath to remove itself from 
Germany, where it could dominate the situation (hardly less 
than in Italy) by trading on the fears of the lesser princes 
against the overwhelming power of Prussia. 2 The Kings of 

1 See chapter xxxv, section 264. 

2 The history of Austria is in one sense that of a power which started as al- 
most purely German, and then, little by little, has been pushed out of sym- 
pathy with and influence in Germany; while at the same time it has gained new 
dominions toward the east (e.g., Hungary, Croatia, part of Poland, etc.). Yet the 



49 2 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Bavaria, Wlirtemberg, Saxony, and Hanover and nearly all 
the grand dukes and princes, from Baden down to the least, 
looked to Vienna for leadership rather than to Berlin. If 
Germany was to become a genuine nation, only one solution to 
the situation was really possible. Prussia must expel Austria 
from Germany with the armed hand. Peaceful means would 
surely never remove her. 

Frederick William IV, however, was a very unfit leader for 
such a movement. He was hopelessly eccentric and shifty, and 
had lost the confidence of his people. In 1850, he had pro- 
claimed a constitution for Prussia, but the Parliament as 
established had a House of Lords ( Herrenhans) made up only 
of great nobles or of appointees of the king; the House of 
Deputies was chosen on such a narrow franchise that it could 
hardly claim to represent the people. 1 Such grudging arrange- 
ments, of course, angered a great part of his subjects; in addi- 
tion he showed himself vacillating and timid in dealing with 
Austria. 

In 1850, a dispute had arisen between Prussia and Austria 
over a new scheme for a very limited German Confederation. 2 
The dispute quickly drifted, it seemed, toward war. Both sides 
mobilized their armies. .There was even a skirmish. Then 
Frederick William seems to have lost his nerve, and announced 
that he would abandon his claims. The Conference at Olmutz 
ended in the surrender of Prussia to Austria on every substan- 
tial point at issue. It seemed as if the king wished to make a 
public confession of the fact that he dared not cross swords 
with Austria. 

289. The coming of Bismarck (1862). Prussia had been 

Austrian Government has been very unwilling to withdraw itself from its old 
German connection and become frankly an East-European Power. 

1 This constitution is still the basis for the constitution of Prussia, and is the 
cause of much discontent at the present day. 

2 This was an attempt engineered by Prussia to form a small confederation 
with some of the lesser states of Central Germany. 



HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 493 

humiliated before all the world by Austria. Her position did 
not improve for several years. Then at length to Prussia, as 
to Sardinia, there came an able king and a great prime 
minister. The king was William I; the prime minister was 
Bismarck. 

In 1858 Frederick William IV became so insane that his 
brother had to be declared regent. 1 In 1861, this brother 
became king. William I was a prince of no great genius, but 
he possessed certain cardinal virtues. Personally he was simple, 
unassuming, and, despite a military career, decidedly tender- 
hearted. He possessed a genuine and earnest piety along with a 
deep consciousness of the greatness of his human office. He 
was without the least political originality or genius; but his one 
cardinal merit was like unto that of Victor Emmanuel: he 
knew that he possessed a great prime minister, and he held 
that minister in office despite cavil, faction, and threatenings. 

Otto von Bismarck, who was made President of the Prussian 
Cabinet in 1862, came of the Prussian country nobility, a very 
conservative stock; and in 1848, he had been a pronounced 
anti-liberal, and an opponent of the unlucky Frankfort Con- 
stitution. Later he had served Prussia on foreign embassies. 
He had conceived against Austria an earnest hate, as the chief 
foe to Prussian greatness. His views in the interval also had 
broadened. He had learned to see a certain amount of good in 
constitutions and in popular participation in government; he 
now came to the portfolio charged with an intense desire to 
expel Austria from German affairs and to unite Germany under 
the effectual leadership of Prussia. He would glorify his be- 
loved king and Prussia by making them the head of a united 
and prosperous Germany. To this end he devoted all his match- 

1 During Frederick William's later years he had been hopelessly reactionary; 
all agitation for liberal institutions had been denounced as contrary to true 
religion. "There is an evil spirit in the cities," said the king; and Stahl 
(rector of the University of Berlin) denounced the prevailing scientific spirit of 
the age. "Science must face about," he asserted. 



494 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

less powers as a supple diplomat and intriguer, and no over- 
nice moral scruples were to hold him back from his goal. The 
first few years of Bismarck's administration were consumed 
in a thorough reorganization of the Prussian army along the 
newest and most scientific lines and upon the basis of universal 
military service. The change was very unpopular. It involved 
drafting a very large number of citizens into the army, and also 
a heavy expenditure. The Prussian Parliament repeatedly 
refused to vote authorization or money for the new scheme. 
Bismarck and his master continued on their way undisturbed 
by popular clamors and legislative censures. The king and his 
minister were resolved to give Prussia such an army that she 
could safely risk a great struggle with Austria, and no great 
tenderness for the letter of the law prevented them. "It is not 
by speeches and resolutions," said Bismarck, "that the great 
questions of the day are to be decided: but by blood and iron." 
History has justified the prime minister. In Von Moltke he 
had a "Chief of Staff" of remarkable ability. By him the 
Prussian army was so reorganized that it was soon proved to 
be the first in the world. 

290. The Danish War (1864). In 1864, Bismarck began to 
come to his reckoning with Austria. He soon showed himself 
a far better diplomat than the Vienna statesmen. All Germany 
was agitated over the Schleswig-Holstein question. These two 
duchies had a population mainly German, but had been placed 
by a "personal union" under the King of Denmark. In 
Holstein, especially, Danish rule was very unwelcome. In 
1863, the Danes adopted a constitution which made the 
duchies almost parts of Denmark. 1 In Holstein there was 
great uproar, and men proposed to give the ducal throne to 
the Duke of Augustenburg. 2 Bismarck now adroitly maneu- 

1 The inhabitants of Holstein, the southern duchy, were bitterly Anti-Danish, 
and resented this attempt to " un-Germanize " them. 

2 The Duke of Augustenburg seemed to have the next best claim if the King 
of Denmark were eliminated. 




PRINCE BISMARCK 

German statesman 
Born 1815 Died 1898 



HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 495 

vered the Austrians into an entangling alliance with Prussia 
to eject the Danes from the disputed country. The general 
supposition was that the Duke of Augustenburg would pres- 
ently be given the lands, and this was what the world awaited, 
when, after a brief war (the Danes fighting heroically, but 
simply overwhelmed by the troops of the two great powers 
against them), the King of Denmark was obliged to make 
peace by giving up the duchies and promising to accept any 
disposition which the allies might make of them. 

Then it was that Bismarck showed his hand. Over the settle- 
ment of the government of Schleswig-Holstein endless difficul- 
ties arose. Austria urged the cause of the Augustenburger; 
Bismarck demanded that if the region were to be made into 
a new principality, it should be tied to Prussia in extreme bonds 
of vassalage. Austria was resolved under no circumstances to 
submit to an increase of Prussian power; the duke refused Bis- 
marck's proposals, and the South German princes sustained 
him. Bismarck and his master were unpopular throughout 
Germany on account of the unconstitutional army reforms; 
but the great prime minister was not a man to worry about 
mere popular grumblings. He knew that Von Moltke had re- 
organized the Prussian army into a magnificent, scientifically 
built fighting machine ; and he knew that he had secured Italy 
for an ally. 

By June, 1866, Austria and South Germany were thoroughly 
angry, while Bismarck and Von Moltke were thoroughly con- 
fident. The attempt of Prussia to prevent the Duke of Augus- 
tenburg being proclaimed in Holstein, therefore, led promptly 
to war. 

291. The Austro-Prussian War (1866). The German Federal 
Diet, the body of delegates of the worthless old " Confedera- 
tion," declared the peace broken by Prussia and ordered a 
general arming against her (June 14, 1866). The Diet was 
decreeing its own dissolution. Although all the lesser kings of 



496 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



Germany — Hanover, Saxony, Bavaria, and Wtirtemberg, as 
well as the princes of Baden and the two Hesses — were on the 
Austrian side, these disconnected and feeble allies did the 
Hapsburg monarchy very little good; their scattered corps 



fP Longitude £a« l5J^5«S JhSridi V>J 

The North German I ^> f>) |\ f 

Confederation V r> E f . M \Tr k J Ctju-nhafeen 

1866-1871. u S.-s.i'r"iA ;] K K < L-^~J 

Boundary of the f 1 \ ) \_ J f 

German Empire / t^AarufteDbdrJ r "£ 



X 




THE GERMAN EMPIRE 

being readily defeated or checked by small Prussian armies. 
King William had gone into the war with hesitation. The odds 
against him seemed great. His Italian allies w r ere a very uncer- 
tain quantity. 1 Public opinion had denounced him for sustain- 

1 Besides Italy, he had the alliance of a few quite small North German states 
such as the Mecklenburgs. It turned out that the Italians were mainly useful in 



HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 497 

ing the illegal policy of Bismarck. But his advisers had now 
convinced him that it was safe to trust to the newly organized 
army, and they knew whereof they spoke. The Prussians 
instantly took the offensive. Von Moltke directed them most 
skillfully into Saxony, and sent the local king, with his court 
and army, flying headlong to their Austrian friends in Bohemia. 
The Prussians followed into the Austrian lands. On July 3, 
1866, came a great and decisive battle at Koniggratz : 1 200,000 
Prussians striving to storm a strong position above the Elbe, 
defended by as many Austrians. The battle was desperate, 
bloody, and for a long time hung in the balance. But the Aus- 
trian general, Benedek, was no match for Von Moltke, and the 
final arrival of reinforcements turned the scale in the Prussians' 
favor. 2 Benedek's army fled southward, almost a demoralized 
mob. It had lost 42,000 men, and was incapable of successful 
resistance. One great contest had decided the war. 

Austria had shot her bolt, and must make peace. After a 
preliminary truce, the Peace of Prague (August 23, 1866) 
ended hostilities. Bismarck's darling ambition was gratified. 
Austria retired from all further participation in German affairs. 
Prussia was allowed to seize and annex the unlucky territories 
of Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, Electoral Hesse, Nassau, and 
the free city of Frankfort. Their dispossessed princes took the 
gloomy road to exile. In North Germany, Prussia was to be 
allowed to organize the surviving principalities into a confed- 
eration completely under her dominance. In South Germany, 
the local sovereigns were left their internal independence, but 
it was understood that their entire military force was at the 
disposal of Prussia in event of war. The " blood-and-iron " 

diverting a large Austrian army to check their march on Venice (see chapter 
xxxvii, section 286). 

1 Also often called Sadowa, from the name of another village near the battle- 
field. 

2 One great advantage of the Prussians was their new breech-loading " needle 
gun," which was vastly superior to the old-style Austrian weapons. 



49 8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

policy had amply vindicated itself. If the German nation was 
not yet made, it was surely well advanced in the making. 

292. The founding of the North German Confederation. 
Bismarck was now free to organize a federal government for 
all but the southern states l of Germany. Abstract reasoning 
would have dictated the abolition of all the petty sovereigns, 
but local feeling, the opinion of Europe and the etiquette due 
to crowned heads had to be respected. The result was the 
North German Confederation ; the present German Empire is 
merely an expansion of this. 

The new scheme was really a clever balancing of local rights 
and prejudices against the necessity of giving the final control 
in all vital matters to Prussia. Each state kept its own magis- 
trates and legislature, but certain things were entirely taken 
out of its scope. The King of Prussia was in absolute command 
of the entire army, in virtue of holding the " presidency" of 
the League. Postal and telegraph service, likewise the custom- 
houses, were in charge of " federal " (that is to say, in effect, 
Prussian) officers. As a legislature there was set up an upper 
house, the Bundesrath (Federal Council), whereof the members 
were ambassadors named by the different states, the larger 
states having more representatives than the smaller. Prussia 
had 17 votes; the other 21 states had, together, 26; but on im- 
portant questions Prussia could always command a majority 
(22), for her 17 votes would be cast as a unit, and her influence 
could always pick up a few more among the lesser states. The 
lower house of the legislature (Reichstag) was to be elected by 
direct manhood suffrage, according to districts based mainly 
on population. Here Prussia with her great bulk was always 
sure of a majority. The Confederation, in short, was an " equal 
alliance " between a lion (Prussia) and a number of relatively 
helpless sheep. The lion, however, was wise in not displaying 
his powers too often, and the sheep were tolerably contented 
1 Especially Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden were still left out. 



HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 499 

under his guidance : — in short, a most ingenious scheme, and 
one worthy of Bismarck, who now, as " Chancellor of the 
Confederation,' 1 practically assumed charge of the Govern- 
ment of Germany. 

It is under a slight modification of this constitution that 
Germany exists to-day. 

293. Bismarck and Napoleon III. From across the Rhine 
Napoleon III had watched the growth of Prussian influence 
with increasing alarm. It was a cardinal point with Frenchmen 
that their nation was the First Power of Europe. France had 
been repeatedly defeated : — true ; but only by a great coali- 
tion. No single nation had ever successfully crossed swords 
with her. 1 In 1865, when Bismarck was planning a rupture 
with Austria, he had gone to Biarritz 2 and encouraged Napoleon 
III to believe that if Prussia were allowed a free hand against 
Austria, France would be allowed to " indemnify herself " for 
any increase of Prussian power by seizing German lands along 
the Rhine. But Bismarck purposely left his engagements very 
indefinite and Napoleon was utterly hoodwinked. He had 
expected Prussia and Austria to have a long, indecisive war, in 
which he could intervene as arbiter after both sides were 
exhausted. To his dismay Prussia won an astonishingly prompt 
victory. The battle of Koniggratz was almost as unwelcome to 
France as to Austria. What if a new " First Power " had 
arisen? Austria retired beaten from the German situation, but 
Bismarck's work would never be complete until he had come to 
grim conclusions with France, and forced her to acquiesce in 
the union of South Germany with the North German Confed- 
eration. 

After Austria had made peace, Napoleon demanded a 
" territorial enlargement" for France from Germany. He met 
now a decided refusal. France would probably have declared 

1 Except, of course, England in purely maritime warfare. 

2 A famous watering-place in southern France. 



5 oo HISTORY OF EUROPE 

war, but the emperor's advisers told him that his army was in 
no condition for action. His final efforts came down to an 
attempt to purchase the small Grand Duchy of Luxembourg 
from the King of Holland. The city of Luxembourg was occu- 
pied by a Prussian garrison, but again Bismarck deluded the 
French into believing that this would be readily withdrawn. 
The King of Holland was ready to sell a useless possession, and 
a treaty of cession to France was drawn up and announced to 
Europe. Then suddenly Bismarck caused German public feel- 
ing to be aroused lest " German land "* be alienated to France. 
The Chancellor informed the King of Holland that, " in view 
of the condition of opinion in Germany," war would result if 
he went on with the sale. The Dutch, of course, dropped the 
matter. Napoleon was accordingly advertised as rebuffed and 
humiliated before all Europe. His hold upon France was 
already weakening: now his prestige at home and abroad was 
shaken sorely. From this time (down to 1870) the French 
watched the growing Prussian power with anxious, unfriendly 
eyes. " Herr von Bismarck has made me a dupe," cried 
Napoleon. " An Emperor of the French can be no dupe ! " 

During the following years certain reforms were undertaken 
in the French army which — Frenchmen were told — made 
it more than a match for the Prussians. 2 

294. The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War (1870). 
Despite the unfriendly tension no hostilities occurred from 
1866 to 1870. The summer of 1870 seemed to show the diplo- 
matic sky with fewer clouds than usual. Then war broke forth 
with astounding suddenness. A revolution had occurred in 
Spain: the successful rebels offered their crown to a German 
prince of the House of Hohenzollern. The idea of a prince 
friendly to Prussia reigning at Madrid filled French statesmen 

1 Luxembourg had been part of the old German Confederation before 1866. 

2 These reforms seem to have been excellent — on paper: but they were most 
imperfectly executed. 



HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 501 

with wrath. In the face of French clamors, the prince with- 
drew his candidacy- There things should have ended, but 
with incredible folly, Gramont, the French Foreign Minister, 
demanded of King William a pledge that "he would never 
allow the prince to renew his candidacy." The king took 
umbrage at the exacting demands and declined to permit 
Napoleon's envoy again to discuss the matter. Bismarck, 
already convinced that war with France was both necessary 
and desirable, and assured by Von Moltke that the army was 
perfectly prepared, now did a deliberate act which was like a 
red rag waved before an already irritated bull. He gave to the 
newspapers a dispatch touching the French demands, which 
implied that a studied insult had been intended by the king to 
Napoleon and his ambassador. 1 

This was July 14, 1870. In Paris, where matters were already 
tense, the council of imperial ministers resolved on immediate 
war. It was declared on July 19. 

295, The Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). It is impossible 
to acquit Napoleon III and his ministers either of extreme 
knavery or extreme folly. It is not quite certain whether they 
knew that France was utterly unprepared for war, or whether 
they believed that she had a genuine chance to conquer. In the 
former case, they were reckless, treasonable adventurers who 
wrecked their country by taking gamblers' chances with her 
very life as the stake; in the latter case, they were living in a 
fool's paradise, when it was their ordinary duty to have learned 
the bitter truth. 2 

1 It is difficult to commend Bismarck's morality in this action. He may well 
have believed a war with France for the interests of Germany necessary and sure 
to come sooner or later; but a more patient and scrupulous diplomacy might 
have long averted it, until perhaps even the selfish need thereof had disappeared. 
What he actually did was to publish an "edited" copy of a telegram from the 
king stating his treatment of the French demands. Bismarck struck out all the 
softening and qualifying phrases, and left the dispatch blunt and seemingly 
insulting. He afterwards gloried in his deed. 

2 Afterwards the emperor and his advisers claimed they were driven to war 
by " the clamor of France." This is a futile excuse: it is the duty of a true 
statesman to avoid a disastrous act, even if it renders him very unpopular. 



5 o2 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

"We are thrice ready for war, down to the last soldier's 
shoestring," proclaimed Marshal Lebceuf, who claimed the 
chief knowledge and authority in the army. " We enter on the 
contest with a light heart," declaimed the prime minister, 
Ollivier, to the Chamber of Deputies. Vainly a few voices 
among the deputies spoke of -moderation and delay. " To 
Berlin!" rang the cry in the Paris streets. France rushed 
almost gayly into the struggle, full of old memories of Auster- 
litz and Jena, and believing what her rulers told her — that 
all was prepared, and that victory was assured. 

The moment the French forces began to mobilize, the rotten- 
ness of the Second Empire regime was evident. It was impos- 
sible to assemble anything like the 400,000 men expected. 
Transport and commissariat broke down utterly. The armies 
on the frontiers were demoralized before a single battle. 
Troops were sent hither and thither in the most aimless and 
reckless fashion. "I can't find my commander-in-chief, nor 
the men I am ordered to command," telegraphed a French 
general on reaching a frontier post. The higher officers were 
many of them self-seeking and incapable creatures who owed 
their posts to political favor. The emperor himself was in poor 
health and seemed scared and hesitant as the awful problem 
loomed before him. France, in short, lacked everything but 
bravery; this bravery saved her national honor, but very little 
else. 

From the very outset, too, the French were outnumbered. 
Von Moltke's relentless military machine had organized prac- 
tically the whole Prussian nation into an army. His plans 
worked almost automatically. 1 The first rounds of the war are 
soon told. 

(1) A German force of some 100,000 routed a French army 

1 A story runs that, on the night of the declaration of war, the great general 
was almost asleep when the decisive news came. "Telegraph the orders in file 

number ," he directed his aide, and rolled over in his slumbers. Everything 

had long been arranged to meet just such an emergency! 



HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 503 

of about 50,000, at Worth, on the frontiers. The French fought 
gallantly, but were simply swamped by numbers. This put 
their whole campaign on the defensive. 

(2) The main French army (about 175,000), under the incap- 
able Bazaine, was driven into the fortress city of Metz after 
the great battle of Gravelotte (August 18), and there held 
blockaded. Nothing now hindered a march of the Prussians 
on Paris except a surviving army led by the best French 
general, MacMahon. 

(3) Prudence dictated that MacMahon should try to check 
the Prussian attack on Paris, while new armies were recruited 
in France; but his desires to act thus were overcome by the 
news from the capital that a report of any further retreating 
meant "a revolution against the dynasty." Against his better 
judgment, MacMahon now tried to come to the relief of Metz. 
He was himself forced by superior numbers into Sedan, — 
hemmed in, and, after valorous but vain resistance, forced to 
surrender. Napoleon III was with him. The Germans boasted 
the capture of "one emperor," 1 39 generals, 2300 officers, and 
84,000 men. There had been no victory like this in all modern 
history. 

The "Second Empire" was already unpopular in Paris ere 
the war began. The first tidings of defeat awakened wrath and 
suspicion. 2 The news of Sedan drove the capital to frenzy. 
Once more there was sudden revolution. The Empress Eugenie 
fled to England. September 4, 1870, the (Third) French 
Republic was proclaimed, with a Provisional Government of 
the " National Defense," which strove with remarkable energy 
to check the Prussians and to save the national honor. 

After Sedan the Prussians had marched straight on Paris. 
The siege lasted from September 19, 1870, to January, 1871. 

1 Napoleon III was sent into easy captivity in Germany until the end of the 
war. Then he retired to England, where he died in 1873. 

2 The Government added to its unpopularity by issuing lying bulletins of 
successes, which were soon proved never to have been won. 



5 o4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

The great city of 2,000,000 was changed into one desperately 
defended camp, and held out heroically against its blockaders, 
awaiting the relieving armies which were being raised in the 
French provinces. The most active member of the " National 
Defense " Government, Gambetta, had fled from Paris, 1 and 
put forth memorable efforts to assemble new armies in central 
and southern France. If bravery and patriotism could have 
saved Paris, the capital would have been rescued, but the new 
armies of Gambetta were really only hastily improvised militia. 
They had no chance against the perfectly organized and skill- 
fully led host that held Paris as in a ring of iron. On October 
27, 1870, Bazaine had capitulated in Metz, surrendering 
176,000 men, after a shameful failure to break through his 
blockaders. 2 The German army before Metz could now be 
used for the investment of Paris. The winter was cold and 
added to the demoralization of the French. By January 28, 
187 1, Paris (long on starvation rations) was practically at the 
end of her supplies. The proud city capitulated and final peace 
soon followed, for France was exhausted and could fight no 
more. 

The Treaty of Frankfort (May 10, 187 1) was a notification 
to all Europe that France had ceased to be the " First Power " 
of the continent. The cost of Napoleon Ill's criminal blunder 
was terrible. Bismarck inexorably required: (1) The cession 
of the frontier provinces of Alsace and Lorraine (4700 square 
miles and 1,500,000 population). (2) The payment of a war 
indemnity of 5,000,000,000 francs ($1,000,000,000). France was 

1 Gambetta escaped from Paris in a balloon, and during the siege the Parisians 
communicated often with the outside world by balloon. This was almost the first 
practical use of aerial navigation, although, of course, the balloons were entirely 
non-dirigible, and it was largely luck where they landed. 

2 For this failure to struggle to the uttermost against his besiegers, and to 
hold out to the bitter end, when the mere fact of his resistance tied up a German 
army larger than his own, Bazaine was most righteously adjudged a traitor after 
the war. He died in disgrace and exile. He claimed to have considered that his 
loyalty was toward Napoleon III alone, and that he had no duty toward the new 
"Republic." 



HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 505 

left humiliated, devastated, curtailed, and impoverished. No 
such single calamity had ever overtaken a great nation in 
modern history. 1 

296. The German Empire (1871). The Treaty of Frankfort 
was made, not with Prussia, but with the German Empire. 
At the outset of the war, Napoleon III had counted on the 
alliance or at least the neutrality of the South German states. 
He had found speedily that they had lined up with the Prus- 
sians to defend the common Fatherland against the old French 
enemy. After the marvelous succession of victories had kindled 
through all Germans a common enthusiasm, the South Ger- 
mans felt themselves quite ready for the final step. On the 
suggestion of the King of Bavaria, and with all the other 
German kings, princes, and free cities concurring, King 
William assumed a prouder title. On January 18, 187 1, while 
he lay with his army before Paris, in the great palace of Louis 
XIV at Versailles he took the title of "German Emperor." 2 
The North German Confederation was enlarged to receive 
the South German states, and its name was forgotten in that 
of the German Empire. 

The dream of centuries of a powerful and united Germany, 
able to renew the glorious memories of the mediaeval Ottos 
and Hohenstaufens, had been realized. In the smoke of battle 
against alien France, the nation had found herself. Cavour 
had made Italy. Bismarck had made Germany. The old map 
of Europe was changed, indeed. 

1 A frightful epilogue to the siege of Paris was the outbreak of the radical 
socialistic element (March — May, 1871), who seized the city almost as soon as 
peace was declared and proclaimed the " Commune of Paris," an attempt to put 
Paris and all France on the basis of "communal autonomy" — i.e., each munici- 
pality and district was to possess extreme local rights, a scheme which, of course, 
would have given the Paris radicals every opportunity in the capital. A reign 
of anarchy and terror prevailed in the sorely afflicted city. The Republican 
Government put down the "Commune" after bloodshed and fighting more 
terrible than any in the regular siege. Many of the finest buildings in Paris were 
destroyed during the contest. 

2 The phrase, "Emperor of Germany," with its odious implication of superi- 
ority over the lesser German princes, was purposely avoided. 



5 o6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

REVIEW 

i. Topics — The Olmiitz Conference; William I; Von Moltke; the 
Schleswig-Holstein Question; Peace of Prague; North German Con- 
federation; Bundesrath; Reichstag; Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; 
Sedan; "Government of the National Defense"; Treaty of Frankfort; 
the Commune of Paris. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Koniggratz (Sadowa); Metz; Sedan. 

(b) Mark on the map the boundaries of the German Confederation, 
1866. Locate the territories of Prussia: Schleswig, Holstein. 

(c) Mark the bounds of the North German Confederation. 

(d) Mark the bounds of the German Empire of 187 1. Locate 
Alsace-Lorraine. 

3. What were the conditions in Germany in 1848 which made impossible 
the forming of a real nation? 

4. W T hat was Bismarck's aim? Make a summary of the steps by which it 
was accomplished. 

5. Compare Bismarck with Cavour as to character and policy. 

6. Describe the Government under the North German Confederation. 

7. The relations between Napoleon III and Bismarck to 1870. 

8. How do you account for the overwhelming triumph of the Prussians in 
the Franco-Prussian War? 

EXERCISES 

1. The Zollverein and its importance in the formation of the German 
Empire. 

2. Bismarck; his internal policy. Compare it with Cavour's. 

3. How did Italy help in the making of Germany? 

4. Compare the difficulties which Bismarck had to overcome with those 
which confronted Cavour. 

5. Was the war with France necessary to the making of a united Germany? 
Give reasons. 

6. What justification was there for the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine? 

7. The Commune of Paris. 

8. Gambetta. 

9. Thiers, and the Treaty of Frankfort. 

10. The Spanish Revolution and the Ems telegram. 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson: nos. 485-92. 

Modem Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 260-62, 281-99. Pattison: pp. 4 I 9~5 I - 
Lewis: pp. 681-753. Lodge: chapter xxvi, sections 21-23; xxvn, sec- 
tions 7-10, 12-16. Robinson and Beard: vol. 11, pp. 109-30. 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 

297. The Problem of 1830: The " Unreformed Parliament" 

In 1830, George IV sank within a dishonored grave. His suc- 
cessor, his brother, William IV (1830-37), was of somewhat 
better character than the last king, but he was neither con- 
spicuously good nor great. When he came to the throne his 
ministers were confronting an intricate problem affecting the 
very foundations of the British Constitution, a problem long 
postponed and now clamorous for answer — the reform of the 
method of choosing the House of Commons. 

The " Unreformed Parliament " was more than an evil, it 
was a monstrous absurdity. Theoretically the English nation 
elected the members of the Commons, — it was the so-called 
"popular" branch of the legislature. Actually the method of 
choice differed in every "borough," thanks to the slow growth 
of local usage and of local interests. Only in a very few dis- 
tricts was there anything like a free ballot open to all the 
citizens. 1 The prevailing system made it easy for the great 
aristocratic families to control both houses of Parliament sim- 
ultaneously. "Hereditary right" put the elder brother in the 
Lords, "family influence " put his younger brother, or some 
trusted friend of the noble house, in the Commons. England 
thus was still highly aristocratic in its whole Government. 

It is difficult to generalize about conditions of evil which 
were not so much a system as an anarchy; but these were some 
of the capital abuses: — 

1 In the "counties" (unincorporated rural districts) all "forty shilling free-/ 
holders" (owners of land renting for £2 per year) could vote, and the system was" 
fairly uniform. But the number of such voters was decidedly small. 



508 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



(a) Many very small towns had the right to return to 
Parliament two members each; some towns even with only 23, 





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ENGLAND, SHOWING INDUSTRIAL CHANGES 



19, or 13 voters. 1 These places had once been of fair conse- 
quence, but had dwindled away. On the other hand, thriving 

1 At Old Sarum there was no longer a town, — only a green mound' where a 
town had once stood; but certain persons still kept the right to vote for Sarum 
and faithfully returned her members. 



NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 509 

cities created by the new "industrial revolution" — e.g., 
Manchester — had no representatives at all. 

(b) The members were very unequally distributed over the 
country. Ten South English counties (population, 3,000,000) 
returned 237 members. Thirty other counties (population, 
8,000,000) sent only 252. The county of Cornwall alone sent 
44; all Scotland (with eight times the population) was allowed 
only 45. 

(c) The right to vote was most arbitrarily distributed. In 
some towns practically all the taxpayers could vote; in some 
the mayor and town council alone chose the members ; in some, 
certain lucky individuals who had the special privilege. 1 In 
the county elections (country districts), the great landowners 
usually dictated the votes of their tenantry; and in 1828, the 
Duke of Newcastle actually evicted five hundred tenants who 
would not vote to please him. 

(d) In these absurd elections bribery was flagrant and often 
unabashed. Noble lords sold "the family seat." Ignoble 
voters could be bought for so many guineas. A seat in Parlia- 
ment could be readily purchased almost as a matter of open 
trade by any rich personage who was politically ambitious. 

To outline this anarchy is to condemn it; yet even in 1830 
the great Tory nobles and the leading English Churchmen were 
ready to denounce as treasonable and un- Christian any attempt 
to change "the present happy Constitution." So great was 
the power of British conservatism! 

298. The Great Reform Act (1832). William IV became 
king in June, 1830. In September, his Tory Prime Minister, 
the Duke of Wellington, a far better soldier than statesman, 
asserted in open Parliament that there was no need of electoral 

1 In one Scottish district this actually occurred in a Parliamentary election: 
"Only one person attended the meeting [of lawful electors]. He, of course, took 
the chair, constituted the meeting, called over the roll of freeholders, took the 
vote, and elected himself " 



■5"> 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



reform. 1 In November, Wellington had been driven to resign 
by the concentrated wrath of the country and a Whig Ministry 
led by Lord Grey was in his place. 

The carrying of the kt Great Reform Bill " marked, however, 
the most desperate Parliamentary struggle in the history of 
England. Only the national moderation and common sense 
prevented an appeal to arms. Rising public senti- 
ment had its influence on even the "electors" and 
" patrons" of the " rotten boroughs " and "packed 
constituencies," when the Commons refused to 
accept Grey's "First Reform Bill." The 
House was dissolved; and bad as was 
the electoral body, it 



now voted for its own 
reformation. A House 
of Commons was re- 
turned friendly to "Re- 
form" (1831); but 
next the conservative 
element, distressed at 
the prospect of "de- 
mocracy," and at the 
menace to "the land- 
ed interests," retreat- 
ed upon the great 
the House of Lords. The Peers 




STEPHENSON'S LOCOMOTIVE 
Adopted for use on the Liverpool and Manchester Rail 
way in 1829 



stronghold of conservatism 
twice threw back rejected Reform Bills upon the Com- 
mons. Grey and his ministers now demanded that the king 
exercise his prerogative, and create enough new Peers to swamp 

1 The Duke delivered a most amazing speech which made history. He de- 
clared that the existing system "possessed the full and entire confidence of the 
country," and that "no better system could be devised by the wit of man." The 
speech created an immediate uproar. It is told that on going out Wellington 
asked a friend "if he had said anything especial." "You have only announced 
the fall of your ministry," came the answer. 



NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 



5ii 



the Tory majority. When he refused, the ministry resigned, 
and Wellington for a moment tried to assume the Government; 
but he had practically all England against him. Armed revolt 
seemed impending if the Lords did not yield. Grey returned to 
office with the royal pledge to create the necessary Peers; and 
the mere threat alone was necessary. The Tory Lords capitu- 
lated. The Reform Bill became a law. 

It was not (from the American standpoint) a highly revolu- 
tionary measure. The rotten boroughs were disfranchised; 
the larger towns were given members; but the seats were not 
yet distributed on a strict basis of population. In the towns 




TRAIN IN I836 
(After a lithograph in the Print Department of the Bibliotheque Nationale) 



votes were given all citizens who owned or rented houses worth 
£10 ($50) per year. In the country districts the franchise was 
not quite so liberal. In brief, only the middle class was enfran- 
chised, and most workingmen and farm laborers were still 
without the votes. In 1836, there were 6,023,000 adult males 
in the kingdom; yet there were only 839,500 voters. Great 
Britain was very far from being a democracy; but the middle- 
class townspeople now had the votes as well as the farmers 
(as formerly); and the new manufacturing and moneyed 
(capitalistic) class was now to rival in political power the old 
landed aristocracy. 
299. The era of liberal reforms. Incomplete as it was, the 



5 i2 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

" Great Reform Bill " was an earnest of better things. Parlia- 
ment would now respond freely to the opinion of the middle 
classes, at least. The English aristocracy, like the king, still 
kept an enormous social influence, but its political monopoly 
was ended. 

Following the impetus given by the Parliamentary Reform 
movement, a long series of liberalizing legislation was carried 
in the next few years. Slavery was abolished in the British 
colonies; the poor-laws were amended to make something like 
the scientific treatment of the problem of non- employment 
and poverty possible; the old system of city government was 
amended by a great Municipal Reform Act (1835) ; and in 1839 
a new postal scheme, instituting the famous penny-post, was 
voted, — really the genesis of the modern cheap postal systems 
of every civilized country. 

All these and many things more were excellent, but a great 
mass of the poorer people demanded something further. This 
was the era of the Chartist Movement : l a radical agitation 
among the working classes, which urged the abolition of 
hereditary nobility and demanded manhood suffrage, and 
kindred things which would have left England a pure democ- 
racy with a king only in name. The Chartists " demonstrated " 
with monster processions, petitions to Parliament, and the 
like; once or twice they seemed fomenting actual insurrection; 
but after 1848 their movement dwindled away. England had 
become more prosperous; there was less discontent among the 
industrial classes; and various of their less radical demands 
had been granted. 

300. Queen Victoria (1837-1901). Five years after the 

1 The name comes from the "People's Charter," in which the "Chartists'" 
demands were summed up. The program seems, from an American standpoint, 
eminently reasonable. The six chief points were: (i) Manhood suffrage; (2) vote 
by secret ballot; (3) annually elected Parliaments; (4) payment of members of 
the Commons; (5) abolition of property qualifications; (6) equal electoral dis- 
tricts. All these points (except the third) have been substantially won since then. 



NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 513 

Reform victory, a blessed change took place upon the British 
throne. William IV was succeeded by his eighteen-year-old 
niece, Victoria, who reigned for over sixty-three years. 

When Victoria came to the throne, the monarchy had been 
discredited by the moral worthlessness of its last two incum- 
bents. Affection and real loyalty for the person of the sovereign 
was at a very low ebb. Victoria altered this absolutely. She 
was not a woman of remarkably brilliant parts; at times she 
showed herself decidedly prejudiced and even narrow-minded; 
but in the main she may be described as an aggressively good 
woman who knew her place. For rottenness at court she sub- 
stituted an almost austere standard of purity. She kept herself 
well informed upon all political matters; and while she never 
undertook to dictate the policy of her ministers, she not infre- 
quently exercised a legitimate influence upon them in the direc- 
tion of moderation. l It was of inestimable value to England to 
feel that at the center of the national life there was a high- 
minded, intelligent woman whose ideals were the ideals of her 
most intelligent and God-fearing subjects. In 1840, she mar- 
ried the German Prince Albert, 2 a " Prince Consort" of like, 
nature with herself, and their family life, blessed with nine 
children, was an inspiration and an example to all Britain. 

The " Victorian Age," to which she has justly given her 
name, was in the main one of ascending prosperity for her 
country. It was marked by a literary activity which is sug- 
gested by the names of Dickens, Thackeray, Tennyson, and 
Robert Browning. While the Continent was shaken by great 
wars and revolutions, England (barring the Crimean War 3 and 
native outbreaks in the colonies) had almost continuous peace. 
Despite the existence of many sore problems, the England of 

1 For example, in 1861, at the time of the Trent difficulty with America, 
she prevented her ministers from taking sudden and drastic action, which would 
probably have brought on war with the United States. 

2 He was of the principality of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He died in 1861. 
a See chapter xli, section 315. 



5 i4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Victoria continued the first industrial, the first commercial, 
and the first maritime power of the world. 

301. The repeal of the Corn Laws (1846). ? The Whigs (or 
Liberals, as they were soon called) continued in power for some 
years after their victory for Reform. Their impetus gradually 
waned. In 1841, they were finally replaced by a Conservative 
(Tory) Ministry led by Sir Robert Peel. 

The Conservatives were still the party of aristocracy and 
landed wealth, but they had learned wisdom, and they were 
prepared to execute many wholesome reforms, provided always 
the door was not opened for the violent "Radicals" and 
"Chartists." 

The great problem of Peel's administration was the tariff, 
or, as was commonly said, the Corn Laws. 1 

England was then under a " protective system," with the 
tariff especially framed to protect the farmer against the com- 
petition of foreign grain. But the country was rapidly in- 
creasing in population, a population devoted almost entirely 
to manufacturing, while the limits of English wheat produc- 
tion had long been reached. The only solution was to import 
foreign grain. The great artisan class, backed by the capitalist 
manufacturers (who with their new machinery did not fear 
foreign competition), clamored for " free food," but the "agri- 
cultural interest," associated as it was with the old country 
gentry, was long able to beat back every attack. Substantially 
the question was, — Should England try to keep up the 
appearance of being a farming country, or should she frankly 
throw over her agriculture and trust to her factories and her 
merchant ships alone? 

Peel had been put in power as a representative of the landed 
interests, but his position soon became difficult. In 1838, the 
" Anti-Corn Law League " had been organized, and was skill- 

1 English usage makes the term " corn " apply to most kinds of grain, especially 
wheat; in America the name is commonly applied to " maize" only. 



NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 515 

fully led by the famous orators and economists, Cobden and 
Bright. They waged a bitter war upon the country aristocracy 
and its past method of exploiting all England in its selfish 
interest. Their agitation was having marked results, when in 
1845 a climatic crisis gave double point to their arguments. 
In that year the crops failed in England. The next year came 
a worse potato famine in Ireland. When tens of thousands were 
virtually starving, it was criminality to bar out foreign grain. 
Peel threw his past logic to the winds, and despite the anathe- 
mas of his former partisans he carried a law which practically 
abolished the protective tariff on grain (1846). 

The uproar raised by this act drove Peel from office in a 
few months. He was succeeded by Lord John Russell, with a 
Liberal Ministry. The protective principle had now received 
its deathblow. With few additional struggles nearly all the 
remaining customs duties were repealed, leaving only a few for 
mere revenue purposes. For many years now England has been 
on a free-trade basis. Her agriculture did, indeed, languish 
sorely; but it was claimed that her commerce and manufactur- 
ing gained infinitely more than enough to make up the loss. 
Down to nearly the end of the nineteenth century, England 
seemed well contented with her free-trade policy. 

302. The Indian, or Sepoy , Mutiny (1857-58). In 1857 came 
an event in Asia which nearly ruined the great colonial empire 
on which the prosperity of England largely rested. India was 
now an English possession: its millions were either ruled 
directly by -English magistrates or by " protected" native 
princes who were wholly under English influence. There was 
one great weakness in this vast dominion, however : the bulk 
of the army was native-born, though under British officers. 
Hitherto these "Sepoy" troops had proved themselves obe- 
dient and valiant in behalf of their foreign masters. The num- 
ber of English regiments in India was small and their posts 
widely scattered. That the Sepoys represented any danger 



516 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

to English supremacy was scouted by most Europeans who 
claimed to understand India. 

In 1857, however, the Sepoy troops suddenly mutinied. 
Probably religious prejudice, a groundless fear that their 
officers were trying to make them give up their native religions, 
was their impelling motive. 1 In many points in northern India 
the Sepoys shot down their officers and raised the standard of 
revolt. For a moment it seemed as if the English cause was 
ruined: but fortunately the bulk of the peaceful population 
and very many of the native princes refused to join the 
mutineers. Although there were some frightful scenes, e.g., at 
Cawnpore, where a large number of English women and chil- 
dren, who had been captured, were massacred in cold blood by 
the rebel leader, Nana Sahib, the small English armies rapidly 
gained the upper hand. Never did Europeans show their 
fighting superiority over Asiatics better than in this desperate 
campaign. The result, of course, was to fasten the English yoke 
more firmly on India than ever. 2 The Government was reor- 
ganized, the old " East India Company," a great trading cor- 
poration, was deprived of its political power, and a direct 
"Viceroy " of the Crown was appointed, and in 1877, Queen 
Victoria was proclaimed " Empress of India." The great 
Hindu land remains the keystone of the wide British Empire. 

303. The Second Reform Act, and Gladstone. Following 
the retirement of Peel, the control of the Government alter- 
nated for nearly two decades between the Conservatives and 

1 The earliest outbreak of rebellion had a picturesque cause. At one small 
garrison town, a new style of cartridges had been issued to the Sepoys. These 
cartridges had to be bitten in the teeth ere being rammed into the muskets. The 
natives alleged this ammunition had been smeared with a mixture of cow's fat 
and pig's grease in order to violate their respective religions. The cow was sa- 
cred to the Hindu, and the pig was an abomination to the Mohammedan. 

2 The English dealt with the insurgents in a way which at once indicated their 
own fears, and the need of teaching the Asiatics a bitter lesson. Numbers of 
captured Sepoys were " blown from the muzzle of guns" — i.e., were tied in front 
of a cannon loaded with a blank cartridge, then the piece was discharged. 



NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 517 

the Liberals. A demand again came strongly for a new " Re- 
form " of the Commons, as the measure of 1832 now seemed 
hopelessly inadequate. In 1867, while the Conservatives (led 
nominally by Lord Derby) were in power, they were forced 
to undertake a very limited Reform Bill, which, however, in 
the welter of party politics, was presently made far more radical 
and democratic in its character than most Conservatives had 
anticipated. "A leap in the dark," Lord Derby petulantly 
called it; but his avowed lieutenant, the actual leader of the 
party, Disraeli (one of the most daring and versatile politicians 
England has ever seen), induced a majority in Parliament to 
accept the bill. The new law was still far from establishing 
purely democratic rule in England, but Votes in the town dis- 
tricts were now given to " lodgers" (paying a rental of £10 or 
over), as well as merely to householders, and in the country to 
small farmers. Also there was a more equitable distribution of 
seats. For the time being this reform gave wide satisfaction. 

The next election, however, brought the Liberals again to 
power. Their Prime Minister, Gladstone, a statesman of noble 
ambition and singular abilities, especially for conducting 
internal reforms, carried through many long desired pieces of 
legislation. In Ireland, the Established (Episcopal) Church, 
of which the adherents were a minority even among the 
Protestant minority of Irishmen, was " disestablished," and 
ceased to draw support and sanction from the State. Also 
the absurd old system, whereby commissions in the British 
army could be purchased by would-be officers, was done away 
with. Many other useful pieces of minor legislation were accom- 
plished; but Gladstone and the Liberals represented a view of 
British foreign policy with which many of their countrymen 
had little sympathy. They were "Little Englanders," who 
regarded the colonial empire as something non-essential to the 
nation's prosperity, and they even contemplated cheerfully the 
time when such colonies, for example, as New Zealand should 



5 i8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

become independent countries. To Disraeli and his type of 
Conservatives this view was monstrous. The " British Em- 
pire," they held, must be preserved, consolidated, and from 
time to time extended, if need be by an occasional war. In 
1874, Gladstone dissolved Parliament, and the election told 
that he had lost the confidence of the country. The Conserva- 
tives and Disraeli were returned to power by a great majority. 
304. Disraeli and Imperialism (1874-80). Disraeli was a 
strident, showy leader whose real interest was in foreign poli- 
tics. The whole Conservative policy, of course, was to divert 
the nation from troublesome domestic questions, where the 
preservation of time-honored institutions might be at stake, 
to outlying matters, where " patriotism" and "the common 
welfare " might leave little room for conventional debate. 
Thus, in 1875, Disraeli's Government purchased for the nation 
a majority of the shares in the great Suez Canal, 1 thereby 
assuring to England a leading voice in the control of the water- 
way which was vitally important to her hold on India. The 
years 1876 to 1878 formed a period of great tension in Turkey: 
there were fiendish massacres of the Bulgarian Christians by the 
Turks, and Russia declared war upon the Ottoman Empire. 
Disraeli, despite loud English clamors against the Turks, took 
a very hostile attitude toward Russia. 2 The czar's empire, in 
his opinion, was the destined rival in the Orient of the queen's 
dominions, and Disraeli was ready even for war to prevent the 
Russians from seizing Constantinople. Thanks to a policy of 
mingled firmness and bluster, the Prime Minister (who had 
just become Lord Beaconsfield) brought about the diplomatic 
Congress of Berlin, where the Russians were forced to relin- 

1 This great enterprise had been completed in 1869 by a company under 
French auspices and managed by the indomitable promoter, De Lesseps. 

2 For the Turko-Russian war, see chapter xl, section 315. In the Treaty of 
Berlin which ended the war, and which Disraeli in substance dictated, very little 
attention was paid to the real needs of the Christian Balkan peoples. Disraeli 
thus became in a measure responsible for the bloody Balkan war of 191 2-13. 



NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 519 

quish a large part of their conquests. It seemed a great triumph 
for " Jingoism" when Beaconsfield returned from Berlin with 
" the treaty in his pocket," but the nation was growing weary 
of his threatenings and ostentation. The election of 1880 
returned the Liberals and Gladstone by a large majority. 1 

305. The return of Gladstone : the Home Rule Question, 
Gladstone's second administration busied itself with various 
desirable internal reforms, including a Third Parliamentary 
Reform Act, which gave the right of voting for members of 
the House of Commons to practically all the laboring classes 
(1884). Despite the Liberals' dislike for an advanced foreign 
policy, the disorders into which the Government of the native 
Khedives of Egypt was sinking, and the danger that the Suez 
Canal might fall into hostile hands, led to a British military 
occupation of Egypt (1882). This proceeding was intensely 
distasteful to France, and the English represented their 
seizure of the country as only temporary; but the time has 
never come when the English have dared to leave the khedive 
to his own devices. Egypt is the veritable gateway of the road 
to India. The English garrison and the English representative 
(whose word is law to the native rulers) remain in Egypt unto 
this day. 

But the great question of Gladstone's administration was 
that of Ireland. The Irish had been chronically unhappy since 
the ill-considered "Union" of 1800. In the forties, Daniel 
O'Connell, an orator of marvelous potency, had stirred his 
countrymen to the limits of frenzy by his demands for the 
" Repeal " of the Act of Union. Repeated famines and a heavy 
emigration to America made the population of Ireland decline 

1 The reaccession of Gladstone illustrates a feature of the unwritten Constitu- 
tion of Britain. Beaconsfield was exceedingly well liked by Queen Victoria. She 
regretted to see him retire. She had a corresponding dislike for Gladstone. It 
is said that she strove earnestly to induce some other Liberal leader to form a 
ministry; all refused, saying that Gladstone was the only possible man who 
could command the votes of the party. Most unwillingly the queen summoned 
him to office. 



5 2o HISTORY OF EUROPE 

rapidly. There were conspiracies and frequent rioting to which 
the English Government answered with u Coercion Acts," 
substantially putting the country under martial law. In 1867, 
the " Fenian Movement," an elaborate secret undertaking to 
set up an independent Irish Republic, came to a climax in an 
overt attempt to raise rebellion. 1 The answer was, of course, 
suppression by armed force, and certain palliative legislation 
which did not satisfy the Irish. Their members in Parliament 
had vainly agitated for home rule, but saw little progress until 
1877 when the famous Parnell became their House leader. 

Parnell succeeded in welding the Irish members into a solid 
group which made itself a thorn in the side of the Government, 
obstructing all proposed legislation, voting with its opponents 
and generally making its existence miserable. At the same time 
a formidable "Land League" in Ireland undertook what 
amounted to the coercion of landlords 2 and government agents 
by boycotting, moral intimidation, and in some extreme cases 
downright violence. Gladstone passed coercion acts, and 
ordered the "Land League" dissolved. In 1881, Parnell and 
certain associates were held for some months in prison. In 
1882, Lord Cavendish, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, was 
murdered in Dublin. The situation, in short, was nearly that 
of civil war. Gladstone was becoming convinced that the 
situation was intolerable and could not be cured by half- 
measures. In 1886, he surprised many of his own partisans, 
even, by introducing a Home Rule Bill, granting self-govern- 
ment and a Dublin Parliament to Ireland. 

1 In 1866, there had been an attempt by Fenian sympathizers in America to 
cross from the United States and to invade Canada. 

2 The Irish landlords were charged with extreme severity in increasing rents, 
in refusing to renew leases for land on which the tenant had made many improve- 
ments, in making brutal evictions of embarrassed and unwelcome tenants, etc. 
The fact that most landlords were Protestants, who often lived in London on 
money wrung from their Catholic tenantry, did not add to their popularity. 
Captain Boycott, an Irish land agent, was subjected to such coercion and har- 
assment, in 1880, that he gave his name to the process of " boycotting." 




ISABELLA 
Queen of Castile and Leon ; wife of Ferdi- 
nand of Aragon ; patron of Columbus 
Born 1451 Died 1504 



CATHERINE DE MEDICI 
Queen of Henry II of France 
Born 1519 Died 1589 




MARIA THERESA VICTORIA 

Wife of the Emperor Francis I and Queen of Queen of Great Britain and Ireland (1837- 

Hungary and Bohemia 1901) and Empress of India (1876-1901) 

Born 1717 Died 1780 Born 1819 Died 1901 

FAMOUS QUEENS 



NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 521 

The joy of the Irish was great, but the Prime Minister's 
move was premature. The Commons refused to accept the 
bill, and Gladstone was driven from office. The Conservatives, 
led by Lord Salisbury, ruled England from 1886 to 1892. Then 
for the third time Gladstone (the "Grand Old Man," his 
admirers called him) became Prime Minister. The Home Rule 
project was renewed and passed the Commons, but the Lords 
threw it out, and the Government was not confident enough 
to press the battle. In 1895, the Conservatives again gained 
office, and for years home rule was a dead issue. The Conserva- 
tives, however, were forced to enact various measures removing 
the undoubted injustices in Ireland, 1 and as the century drew 
to a close that sorely afflicted island seemed more prosperous 
materially, although still clamorous for her own administra- 
tion and Parliament. 

306. The British colonial empire. The Conservative admin- 
istration, toward the end of the nineteenth century, saw a great 
increase in enthusiasm among Englishmen for the "Empire." 
Gradually it had come to the consciousness that the politics 
of Britain were no longer those of two islands off the coast of 
Europe, but of a series of wide lands and continents which 
perpetuated the British laws, manners, and speech in every 
quarter of the globe. Excluding the great Indian domain and 
the numerous Oriental and West India islands, it was real- 
ized that in the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of 
Australia, and the great colonies of South Africa 2 and New 
Zealand there existed nations genuinely independent, and held 
to England only by the ties of affection and copartnership 
in a common tradition and a common weal. For all internal 

1 The particular end of recent legislation has been to make it easy by govern- 
ment loans for the Irish peasants to buy land for their small farms, and so escape 
the clutches of the landlords. These "Land Acts" have undoubtedly cured the 
most serious grievances of the Irish poor, which have been economic rather than 
political; but the demand for home rule has lost none of its force. 

2 For the Boer War and its results in British Africa, see chapter xl, section 313. 



522 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

matters these colonies were entirely self-governing. " Greater 
Britain" and " Imperial Federation" had become familiar 
words charged with vast future significance. 

307. The death of Queen Victoria (1901). On January 22, 
1 90 1, Queen Victoria died at the age of eighty-one. During 
her long lifetime she had seen her people increase marvelously 
in material prosperity and power as well as on the nobler side 
of civilization. So long had she reigned that to almost two 
generations " the good Queen" had appeared as a regular 
institution, extra-human and immutable. Her passing told all 
the world that the nineteenth century, with its sins, its errors, 
but also its marvelous progress, had passed away likewise to 
make room for the unknown problems of the twentieth. 

REVIEW 

1. Topics — Industrial Revolution; Old Sarum; the Chartist Movement; 
Corn Laws; the Indian Mutiny; "Little Englanders"; Congress of 
Berlin; Daniel O'Connell; Fenian Movement; Irish Land League; 
Home Rule; Imperial Federation. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate the chief cities which were given the right of represen- 
tation in Parliament by the Reform Bill of 1832 (see Map of the British 
Isles since 1300, page 290). 

(b) Mark the chief colonial possessions of England. 

3. Describe the conditions regarding the elections to the House of Com- 
mons before 1830. 

4. Make a summary of the three Reform Bills; showing dates, ministers 
who carried them through Parliament, and provisions. 

5. What do you consider the great social, industrial, and political reforms 
in England at this period? 

6. Who were the chief Prime Ministers during this period? What did each 
accomplish? 

7. Why did the Revolutions of 1848 on the Continent have so little effect 
upon England? 

8. The relations of England with Ireland since 1800. 

EXERCISES 

1. Find other examples of the "rotten boroughs." How was their exist- 
ence justified by the Tories? 



NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 523 

2. Previous attempts at reform. Why had they failed? 

3. Cobden and Bright. The repeal of the Corn Laws. 

4. The Irish Famine and its results. 

5. England in the Crimean War. 

6. England in Egypt: General Gordon. 

7. The influence of Queen Victoria upon England's foreign policy. 

8. The Irish Land Acts. What have been their effects upon the economic 
and political conditions in Ireland? 

9. Make a brief digest of the character and work of these men: — Robert 
Peel, Lord Palmerston, Gladstone, Disraeli, and the Marquis of 
Salisbury. 

10. The growth of industry and commerce during the nineteenth century. 

READINGS 

Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 207-21, 364-65, 371-75. Lodge: chapter 
xxviii, sections 3-5, n. Gibbins: pp. 179-89, 223-25. An English 
history (Ransome, pp. 936-1040). Robinson and Beard: vol. 11, pp. 
181-261. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 

Since 1870 there has been a comparative absence of 
striking events in Europe. The great process of u nation- 
building" has been largely accomplished. In nearly every 
country there are constitutions giving a large extent of political 
liberty. Civilization has moved steadily forward every year. 
But it has been a somewhat unspectacular, silent advance, 
wherein the results are easier to notice than the processes. 
Furthermore, we are still too close to events since 1870 for us 
to see them in their true historical perspective. It will be many 
years before the history of Europe from the Franco-Prussian 
War down to the Balkan War can be fitly written. Neverthe- 
less, the great facts about the great nations confront us every 
day; and in a bald, summary manner they must be stated. 

308. France since (1871) the Third Republic. The defeat by 
Germany left France humiliated, demoralized, and dismem- 
bered. She was no longer " the First Power in Europe." For 
a moment it seemed doubtful if she were a Great Power at all. 
The terrible Paris Commune 1 had threatened to plunge her 
into sheer anarchy. When at length peace and order returned, 
Frenchmen found themselves a more sober, a less self-confident 
nation than before their great chastening. But it was soon 
evident that France had been bent, not broken. In a surpris- 
ingly short time the economic damage of the war was repaired. 
A great outpouring of patriotic enthusiasm subscribed many 
times over for the national bonds, which were to meet the huge 
war indemnity, and thus rid the land of the hated Prussians. 
With a high earnestness which did them vast credit Frenchmen 
1 See p. 405, section 236. 



THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 



525 



turned to the task of building a newer and better France on the 
ruins of the rotten "Second Empire." 

The " Third Republic," which had been proclaimed when 
Napoleon III was cast out, did not have the enthusiastic sup- 
port of a large part of the nation. At first it was little more 
than a provisional government. But, as said Thiers, the lead- 
ing statesman of the day, "It is the Republic which divides 
us least"; and despite the Royalists and the still active 




WINNOWING BY FLAIL, LATTER PART OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 

(After a woodcut by Jacque, published in L' Illustration) 

Bonapartists, the Republic survived — largely because its 
enemies were very ill-united. 

In 1873, the government was, indeed, so far in the hands of 
the friends of monarchy that it was actually proposed to call 
the Royalist pretender, "Henry V," to the throne of France; 
but the would-be king stupidly refused to return unless he 
could have the old white standard of the Bourbons. "The 
chassepots [army rifles] will go off of themselves," pithily 
declared a general when it was thus proposed to give up the 
tricolor flag, beloved by the army. The Government dared not 
risk a revolt of the troops, and this golden opportunity for 
the Monarchists never returned. In 1875, after much hesita- 



526 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

tion, a republican constitution was at length adopted. 1 In 
1879, President MacMahon (an honest Monarchist who had 
tried to use his office to secure the return of the kings) was com- 
pelled to resign. Since then the Royalists and Bonap^rtists, 
though they have never ceased to conspire and to agitate, have 
seen the Third Republic become more and more acceptable 
to the people of France. It has proved to be the most satis- 
factory and stable government the country has had since 1789. 

Three times this Republic has been in serious peril, but three 
times it has defied its ill-wishers. Between 1886 and 1889 a 
political adventurer, General Boulanger, made demagogic 
efforts to secure such a popular following that he could seize 
the government by a coup d'etat. His brilliant superficial qual- 
ities made him very popular with the less intelligent voters, 
but he lacked the nerve to strike a blow like that of Napoleon 
III. His opportunity slipped by, sober public opinion rallied 
against him, and he was driven into exile in Belgium (in 1889). 

In 1893, the great Panama Canal Company, in which De 
Lesseps (builder of the Suez Canal) had persuaded Frenchmen 
to invest enormous sums, collapsed utterly. It was found that 
the company had dissipated its capital, amid circumstances of 
graft and corruption. Many French statesmen were besmirched 
and the Government was sadly discredited, though less seri- 
ously than in 1889, an d no catastrophe came. 

In 1899, the case of Captain Dreyfus (a Jewish army officer 
accused of selling military secrets to Germany) convulsed 
France. His defenders declared that an innocent man was 
being ruined to cover up grave corruption in the War Depart- 

1 This constitution is mainly on the English model — without, of course, a 
hereditary sovereign. There is a legislature of two houses, a lower house (Cham- 
ber of Deputies) elected for four years, and a Senate (some members at first 
appointive, but now all elective for nine years). The President is elected for 
seven years by the two houses sitting together as one body. This presidential 
office is highly honored, but somewhat feeble in power. The President can do 
nothing without the consent of his Ministers, and these are "responsible" to the 
Chamber of Deputies, on the English cabinet principle. 



THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 52; 

merit: the enemies of Dreyfus avowed they were fighting for 
" the army and the honor of France." The whole nation took 
sides: the military element, the unthinking mob, and most of 
the Royalists (for political reasons) demanded the punishment 
of Dreyfus, but calmness and justice at length prevailed. His 
innocence was established, and the attempt to make capital of 
"the attack on the army " failed. The Republic was stronger 
than ever. 

Since 1900 the French ministries have been at bitter odds 
with the Catholic Church. The Church has been accused of 
secretly favoring the Royalists, and of teaching only perfunc- 
tory loyalty to the Republic. 1 Laws have been passed practi- 
cally dispersing the orders of monks and nuns, and in 1905 
("Separation Law") the French Government ceased to sup- 
port any State Church, putting the Catholics on exactly the 
same terms of unofficial tolerance as the Protestants and Jews. 

France in the twentieth century has no longer the command- 
ing power she had in the eighteenth: but she is still a strong, 
self-contained, and highly intelligent nation, a leader in all the 
movements of human uplift. Her wealth is growing steadily. 2 
She has built up a colonial empire second to that of England. 
The "lost provinces" have not been recovered, but otherwise 
most of the calamity of 1870 has been obliterated. Modern 
civilization owes much to a great number of peoples, but to 
almost none does it owe more than to the French. Not many 
are the ideas and ideals which have not sooner or later felt the 
quickening touch of French genius. France to-day is by no 
means a decadent nation: she will surely make great contribu- 
tions to the future. 

1 As early as 1877 the great Republican leader Gambetta made his famous 
declaration, " Le Clericalisme, wild, I'ennemil" ("Where there's Clericalism, 
there's our foe!"). 

2 But not Jber population. France is growing more slowly than any other 
European nation. This puts her at a military disadvantage with her old foe, 
Germany. 



5 2$ HISTORY OF EUROPE 

309. Germany after the unification. The victory over France 
left Germany the first military power in the world. That 
position she has retained and has added to it a great dominion 
in the realm of commerce. The German Government (and 
that of Prussia, its predominant unit) has been less liberal, in 
the sense of giving political rights to the ordinary citizen, than 
most other enlightened countries. The power of the monarch 
is still great, as is also that of the military aristocracy. But 
usually this power has been intelligently exercised. It is as if 
monarchy were trying to justify its right to exist, by giving 
proofs of extreme efficiency. 

Down to 1888 the throne remained with the kindly and pious 
Kaiser William I, who (conscious of his limitations as a politi- 
cian) was quite willing to leave most public affairs to the 
"Iron Chancellor," the mighty Prince Bismarck. William I 
was succeeded for a few months by his highly liberal and popu- 
lar son Frederick, but the new ruler was suffering from an 
incurable disease, and reigned only ninety-nine days. After 
him came his own son, William II (1888 19 ), only twenty- 
nine years old, and until his accession a profound admirer of 
Bismarck. He had not reigned long, however, before it became 
evident that the new Emperor was too masterful a ruler to 
listen to the dictation of the hitherto indispensable Chancellor. 
In 1890 he "dropped the pilot" — Bismarck was dismissed 1 
(to the great wrath of most Germans) ; and since then William 
II has never had a minister who was not distinctly a subordi- 
nate. The new Emperor seemed a man of mediaeval ideas and 
ideals. " There is only one master in this country," he asserted, 
11 and I am he." And he declared that he "was responsible for 
his actions to God and his conscience alone." But although 
often subject to bitter criticism for unwise speeches and auto- 
cratic actions, William II has, on the whole, displayed great 

1 Bismarck died in 1898. Before his death outwardly friendly relations had 
been established between him and the Emperor. 



THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 529 

intelligence in advancing his country's welfare; he has often 
"rattled the scabbard," but he has kept from war; he has not 
loved the rule of public opinion, but he has not defied it. In 
19 13, he stood far higher in the esteem of his own people and 
of Europe than in 1890. 

Since the war with France the Constitution of Germany and 
Prussia has remained substantially unchanged. Public interest 
has usually revolved around two great points: (1) Socialism; 
and (2) the increase of the army and the navy. 

Socialism in Germany is not entirely what the name implies 
in other lands. There is a general demand for more liberal 
institutions, for less power to the monarch, no matter how 
efficient his rule. The Socialists are really, then, the party of 
democratic protest. l From election to election (when members 
of the Imperial Reichstag have been chosen), the Socialist vote 
has increased from 493,000 in 1877 to 3,251,000 in 1907. The 
Government has not dared to reenact the stern laws against 
their societies which had been passed by Bismarck. The 
Emperor has denounced their "traitorous rabble" and all the 
aristocracy and wealth of Germany has been against them : yet 
their position seems stronger than ever. The great growth of 
the German cities (thanks to the new development of manu- 
facturing) adds to their numbers. Some day possibly they 
may make a real bid for the control of the Government. 2 

The military problem in Germany is a perennial one. The 

1 Of course a great part of the Socialist voters believe in the whole of the 
ordinary socialist doctrines: but it is safe to say that if by any chance the 
Socialists controlled the Government in Germany, they would hesitate long ere 
putting their full program into effect. 

2 Up to date the German monarchs have been able to control the Reichstag — 
and consequently the course of legislation — by the fact that there are not two 
great parties in Germany; only a series of groups of delegates. Thus, besides the 
Socialists there are the "Conservatives," the "Liberals" (very "moderate" 
reformers), and especially the "Center" (the Catholic party), as well as smaller 
followings. With the great court influence behind them, the imperial ministers 
can almost always pick up a majority from these groups for an important 
measure. 



S30 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

wresting of Alsace and Lorraine from France left Germany a 
legacy of hate across the border which possibly has cost more 
than the value of all the conquests. x Russia, too, has not been 
friendly: and the possibility of a great war on both frontiers 
has been a constant nightmare to most German statesmen. 
Despite the opposition of the Socialists to "Militarism," the 
great standing army, based on universal conscription, has been 
maintained, and in 19 13 it was deliberately increased, the com- 
pelling reason being a dread of the increased power of the 
Slavic States following the downfall of Turkey in the Balkan 
War. 

Since William II came to power the German navy has also 
become formidable. "Our future is upon the ocean," the 
Emperor asserted early in his reign: and his whole policy has 
been (while maintaining the army) to create a navy almost a 
match for England. The New German navy is to-day a most 
formidable fighting machine. 2 The English were already fear- 
ful of German commercial rivalry. Now they see in the Ger- 
man navy a menace to the integrity of their empire. Between 
England and the military clique in Germany there exists at 
present the same bad blood and latent hostility that there was 
formerly between the " natural enemies," England and France. 

In the twentieth century Germany is leading Europe in 
many forms of civilized activity. Her commerce and manu- 
facturing have enormously increased and she is no longer a 
poor, strictly agricultural country. " Modern science " with all 
therein implied has seemed to make Germany its own peculiar 
home. Their powers of organization and of drastic thorough- 

1 France is still (despite recent quietness) anxious for "revanche." "Think of 
it always: speak of it never," was Gambetta's injunction to his countrymen; but 
Frenchmen are not always silent in their hopes and hatred! 

2 This growth of a war marine has been accompanied by the building of a 
merchant marine second only to that of England. There are no finer monuments 
to the success of the "New Germany," and all that goes with it, than the great 
steamship companies, the Hamburg-American and the North-German Lloyd. 



THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 531 

ness have carried the Germans far. But their problems are 
not all solved. They have bitter foreign enemies, and at home 
some modification of the class tyranny of the aristocracy seems 
inevitable. 

310. The new Italy. Since 1870, Italy also has been making 
marked progress, but without an accompaniment of exciting 
events. It needed a mighty effort (after the enthusiasm over 
"national unity" had waned) to turn to the solid, construc- 
tive task of building a free, powerful, and enlightened nation. 
Italy has been disturbed by more than her share of socialist 
and anarchist agitation; and the status of the Popes, who (from 
their retreat in the Vatican) have never ceased to denounce 
the deprivation of their temporal power, creates a still harder 
problem for the new monarchy. Again, Italian party politics 
have often been " practical" and corrupt, and some of the 
cabinet ministers have proved leaders of no high order. King 
Victor Emmanuel II, the hero of " United Italy," died in 1878. 
His son Humbert (I) the Good, reigned until 1900, 1 and then 
was succeeded by his own son in turn, Victor Emmanuel III, 
a prince of remarkable ability. Under his guidance Italy has 
taken a worthy place among the Great Powers of Europe. 2 

311. The Austro-Hungarian Empire. After their humilia- 
tion in 1866 the Hapsburg statesmen were compelled to re- 
organize their empire. Their German aspirations had been 
destroyed: they perforce had to give heed to the problems of 
the unwieldy mass of their non-German subjects. In 1867, 
Emperor Francis Joseph placed his realm on the basis of the 
"Dual Monarchy" — Austria and Hungary: each half with 

1 He was killed by an anarchist. After an earlier attempt against his life, he 
is reported to have said, "Assassination is one of the perquisites of royalty." 
A grim and true saying under modern conditions. 

2 In 191 2, after a brief and somewhat bloodless war, Italy won Tripoli from 
Turkey. This gives the Italians the possibilities of a great realm in North 
Africa, but as yet it has only cost them heavily in men and money, and its com- 
mercial advantages are in the distance. 



532 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

very complete internal autonomy, its own elective Parliament, 
ministry, etc. The Emperor, 1 with control of the army and 
of the foreign policy, is the chief uniting link that remains. 
On the whole, the scheme has worked well so far as the mere 
toleration is concerned, but within each half of the empire 
there is a perfect vortex of hostile races contending, with per- 
petual hate, for the mastery. 2 Whether after the death of the 
beloved Francis Joseph this peculiar "Austro-Hungary " 
(which is rather a collection of peoples under a single ruler 
than a real " nation ") can be held together is one of the ques- 
tions of present-day Europe. 

312. The Triple Alliance and its enemies. In 1870, France 
and Germany had fought out their battle alone; neither side 
had an ally, although France might have had help from Austria, 
if Russia had not seemed ready (in that case) to spring to the 
aid of Prussia. Russia expected the gratitude of Germany for 
this, but gradually the two Powers drifted apart and at the 
Congress of Berlin (1878), which was held to settle the Turkish 
question, Bismarck took a very unfriendly attitude toward the 
Czar. The result was a realignment of diplomatic and military 
alliances and interests, which has divided the leading Powers 
of Europe into two great camps. 

In 1879, Bismarck made an alliance with Austria by which 
she and Germany pledged mutual help in case of an attack 
by Russia. 3 

Meantime, Russia was drawing closer to France (which had 

1 Called " King" in Hungary. The Hapsburg Emperor is officially called "His 
Imperial and Royal Majesty." 

2 Thus, in the "Austrian" half the Germans are at bitter odds with the 
Bohemians and to a less extent with the Poles; while in " Hungary " the predomi- 
nant Magyar element is striving desperately to keep the mastery over the va- 
rious hostile Slavic races. 

3 After 1866, Bismarck did his best to cultivate good relations with Austria, 
to help her to forget her old defeats, and to make the Hapsburgs firm friends 
to their neighbors, the Hohenzollerns. It seems unfortunate that he made no 
corresponding attempt to win back the friendship of France. 



THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 533 

rehabilitated her army and was again formidable) and two 
" Dual Alliances " seemed coming into existence. But the rela- 
tions between Italy and France were bad. It long seemed 
possible that the French Clerical party might secure control 
at home, and then try to restore the temporal power of the 
Pope. In 1881, also, France established a " protectorate " over 
Tunis in Africa (whereon Italy had cast longing eyes), and 
this drove the Italians to fury. Forthwith, Italy let herself be 
drawn into Bismarck's league, which now became the " Triple 
Alliance," to resist France or Russia. 1 This move naturally 
made these two last countries unite more firmly than ever, but 
they did not make a formal alliance until 1894. 2 However, for 
a long time previous to this it had been plain that Russia 
would not be indifferent to any new attempt to humiliate 
France, and vice versa. With a revived French army, and with 
the Italian army of somewhat uncertain value, these two alli- 
ances seemed about equal in military strength. Europe thus 
stood divided into two great armed camps, but each side feared 
the other. The two alliances really aided the perpetuation of 
peace. 

England had long been content to trust to her fleet and to 
dispense with land allies. She had been proverbially distrustful 
of France, and more recently had feared Russia's designs on 
India; but as German commerce expanded and threatened the 
English trade monopoly, and as the new German navy 3 devel- 
oped as a direct challenge, it seemed, to English naval leader- 
ship and hence to the integrity of the whole British Empire, 
Britons began to feel the need of powerful friends. 4 In 1903, 

1 The core of the agreement was that if any member of the alliance was at 
war with any country, except Russia, the other two members were to stand 
neutral : but if Russia mixed in the war, then all the other allies would join in the 
fighting. Germany felt well able to handle France alone. 

2 It was not actually proclaimed until 1897. 3 See Section 310. 

4 A compelling factor was the friendship shown by the Germans for the 
Boers in their war with the English (1899-1902, see section 313). It seemed 
clear that the German people were anxious for the ruin of the British Empire. 



534 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

King Edward VII began a deliberate policy of cultivating 
closer relations with France: a better understanding between 
England and Russia naturally followed. The " Entente 
Cordiale" (an informal but genuine alliance of England, 
France, and Russia) was the result. This new " Triple Alli- 
ance " can dispose of more men and ships than the old 
"Triple Alliance," but in any case war has become too serious 
a venture to be lightly risked. The alliances have once more 
produced peace, not conflict, although they have done nothing 
to lessen the burdens of the great national armies and fleets. 

313. The twentieth century in Great Britain. Queen 
Victoria died in 1901, and her long and prosperous reign ended 
with Great Britain involved in a war which for a while promised 
disaster. In 1899, her " Conservative " Ministers 1 undertook 
to destroy the two small Boer (African-Dutch) Republics of 
South Africa — the "Transvaal 1 ' and the "Orange Free 
State." The British could rightfully charge the Boers with 
corruption and selfishness in their government and the oppres- 
sion of resident foreigners, who outnumbered the Dutch two 
to one, yet were denied all political rights: but there were 
ugly charges that land-hunger and the desire to control valu- 
able gold-mines was behind many of the British claims. The 
Boers made a heroic and obstinate fight. Their hardy rifle- 
men repeatedly defeated the English ; they proved themselves 
past-masters in the art of guerrilla warfare in half-settled and 
difficult country. The war proved terribly costly to England; 
and the Boers were only conquered by being overwhelmed by 

The French, indeed, showed sympathy with the Boers, but not to such an offen- 
sive extent. The Boer War taught the English that they were intensely dis- 
liked upon the Continent, and needed to cultivate friends. 

1 The Prime Minister was Mr. Balfour, but the leading spirit in managing 
the South-African policy was Mr. Chamberlain, a brilliant but unstable and 
not over-scrupulous politician. The war could well have been avoided or at 
least postponed by a more conciliatory attitude by Great Britain. The Ministry 
seems to have entirely underestimated the fighting powers of the Boers, and to 
have imagined that a brief campaign would end everything. 



THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 535 

the numbers which their foes poured into Africa. In 1902, the 
Boers at last capitulated on honorable terms, but the struggle 
had seemed to demonstrate the inefficient management of 
the British army. The British navy, however, was absolutely 
intact; and while that dominated the seas the " Empire" was 
safe, and could afford to scorn the gibes of the Boer sympa- 
thizers in Europe at the ineffectiveness of the army. 1 

Soon after the war the Conservative Ministry fell apart over 
the question of a revival of the protective tariff, a large part 
of the party demanding the abolition of the long-standing free- 
trade policy. The Liberals (1906) regained control of the 
House of Commons and of the Ministry. Their reform measures 
(especially their schemes of taxation which would lay special 
burdens on the landed aristocracy) were resisted and thwarted 
by the Conservative majority in the House of Lords. In 1909 
and yet again in 19 10 the voters sustained the Liberals in 
general elections. The upshot of the struggle was that a law 
was at length carried, in the teeth of fierce opposition, declaring 
that when a House of Commons had passed a bill in three suc- 
cessive sessions, it should become a law even if the Lords had 
refused to approve of it. Such a measure is, of course, a fun- 
damental change in the whole " unwritten constitution " of 
England, and has served greatly to weaken the still formidable 
power of the British aristocracy in its last stronghold — the 
House of Lords. 

Following this enactment the Liberal Government, led by 
Mr. Asquith, its Prime Minister, and the fiercely hated and 
as fiercely loved Finance Minister, Mr. Lloyd- George, has 
brought in measures for granting home rule to Ireland, for 
disestablishing the Welsh Church, 2 and for various forms of 

1 It is only fair to say that the lessons of the Boer War have been laid to heart, 
and that to-day the British army is a considerably better fighting machine than 
it was. 

2 The perpetuation of the Welsh (Episcopal) Church as a government insti- 
tution seems to most Americans an absurdity. Only a decided minority of the 



536 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

uplift for the laboring classes which, if made into statutes, will 
be landmarks in the history of British legislation. 

As the twentieth century advances it is evident that Eng- 
land, though no longer unique among great nations in possess- 
ing effective free institutions, and although under sore com- 
mercial competition from Germany and America, is still among 
the very first of the world's Powers. Her colonial empire has 
never seemed stronger. Her navy is still much greater than 
that of Germany. Her commerce covers the seas. At home her 
really grave problem is with her huge impoverished industrial 
class. England has long been a safe and delightful country for 
people of good birth and property; but until lately " vested 
interests " (i.e., property, gentility, and the things accompany- 
ing) have been more carefully safeguarded than the good 
health, education, and fair opportunities in life of the unproper- 
tied millions. 1 After centuries of internal peace and of eco- 
nomic prosperity, England has still an abnormal number of 
actual paupers and a still greater number of persons desperately 
poor. It is this pressing problem of poverty and the failure of 
the capitalistic classes to grapple successfully with the solution, 
and to substitute thorough remedies for mere charity, which is 
making so many of the thinking men of England " socialists" 
of one type or another. But when all is said, Great Britain 
is, of course, one of the greatest of all great countries, the 
evils just mentioned are keenly realized, and her leaders are 

population of Wales adhere to it, but it is stoutly defended by English " Church- 
men" as being a bulwark against "Disestablishment" in England also. 

1 One factor which many reforms have had to fight against in English habits 
of thought and politics has been the tendency of the English law to lay great 
stress upon the rights of property. " Vested interests " — whether right or wrong 
— have something sacred in the eyes of many Englishmen if only these interests 
are old enough. This fact was admirable so long as there was need of checking a 
rapacious and tyrannical king. It is less admirable now when it is a dishearten- 
ing check upon a reforming statesman. It has actually been proposed in England 
to indemnify liberally the owners of "public houses" (saloons) who may be put 
out of business by the Government in an attempt to lessen (not prohibit) the 
admittedly overgrown liquor traffic. 



THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 537 

striving earnestly to find a just and abiding issue for her so- 
cial problems. 

314. The evolution of Russia. Russia has become a military- 
power which has sometimes seemed a match for all the rest of 
Europe. 1 She has produced musicians, artists, and novelists 
who rank among the world's masters. In Siberia she has devel- 
oped an enormous Asiatic empire, carrying among the rude 
tribesmen railroads, telegraphs, and all the outward veneer of 
" modern civilization. " Politically and socially, however, 
Russia as a nation is still several generations behind her 
European neighbors. In her cities there are large classes of 
highly educated, intelligent, progressive people, eagerly striv- 
ing for "reform "; but the great bulk of the Russians is com- 
prised of the hundred millions and more of ignorant, superstitious 
peasants: petty agriculturists whose human outlook and vices 
resemble those of the French serfs in the Middle Ages, and with 
whom political progress is still highly difficult. The result is 
that Russia makes very slow growth toward freedom and 
enlightenment. The process will not be completed until the 
bulk of her people can throw off the shackles of ignorance as a 
necessary preliminary to ending the " autocracy " of the abso- 
lute czars. 2 

In 1 86 1 an intelligent and relatively liberal czar, Alexander 
II, took the great step of decreeing the emancipation of the 
Russian serfs, but the landholding nobility and the great corps 

1 Russia lost the war with Japan (1904-05), but it should be remembered that 
she had to maintain her armies in Manchuria six thousand miles from their home 
base with only a single railroad line to rely upon and no effective communication 
by sea. Most military critics, indeed, believe that man for man the Czar's brave 
but not always intelligent troops are not on the average, equal, for example, to 
the Germans; but the huge numbers of the Russians seem to make them almost 
irresistible. 

2 In 1825 an attempt was made by a few Liberals to proclaim a free constitu- 
tion with a certain popular Prince Constantine as czar. The soldiers of two regi- 
ments gladly cried out, "Long live Constantine and the Constitution." The 
soldiers believed "Constitution" was Prince Constantine's wife! Of course, 
considerable progress has been made since then in educating the Russian masses. 



538 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

of government officials, who feared for their tenure of office, 
bitterly opposed further reforms, and the czar's program broke 
down. The " freeing of the serfs " was executed in a blunder- 
ing way, so as actually to increase their miseries for the 
moment, and then followed plots and conspiracies on the part 
of an increasing body of Liberals, and arrests, banishments, 
and police persecution in retaliation by the Government, until 
in 1879 an " advanced " revolutionary party, the Terrorists, 
removed the czar by assassination. 

It was a foolish as well as a wicked act. Alexander II had 
been slowly feeling his way toward a more liberal policy. 1 His 
son, Alexander III, reverted to the deeds of absolutism: the 
muzzling of the press, the exiling to Siberia of leading Liberals, 
the suppression of anything savoring of political agitation. In 
1894, this ruler was succeeded by his son, Nicholas II, a well- 
intentioned man, who perhaps had some faint liking for more 
liberal institutions; but he has proved himself utterly weak, 
the pliable tool of ministers and officials who have every 
interest in maintaining the old system. In 1904, Russia found 
herself involved in a disastrous war with Japan, and the 
Government became so discredited that in the face of the 
riotous outbreaks of the Liberals in the great cities, 2 the czar 
proclaimed a constitution (1905) with an elective parliament 
(Duma) and most of the outward paraphernalia of a free state. 
As soon as the foreign peril was fairly ended, and the danger of 
insurrection past, this parliament was, indeed, dissolved, and 
many of the liberal innovations canceled, but the new reforms 
were not formally abrogated. Russia has still a parliament, 
although the election of members is confined to a very limited 
class of people and the business transacted is closely controlled 
by the czar's ministers. 

1 He was about to sign an order creating a kind of parliament when he was 
assassinated. 

2 The advanced radicals worked on the czar and his advisers by "removing" 
(destroying with bombs) several obnoxious kinsmen of the emperor, and various 
reactionary Ministers. 



THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 539 

Russia has a long, painful road to travel before she possesses 
an enlightened government ; but the first steps have been taken 
and the gradual education of the masses will bring the rest. 

315. The crumbling of Turkey. Since the age of Napoleon 
the diplomats of Europe have been closely watching the 
u Nearer East," the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire, in its process 
of slow but certain decay. The Turkish rulers were, at their 
best, only a race of soldiers. When they ceased to conquer, 
their domination lost all justification. For the last two hun- 
dred years " Turkish rule " has usually meant inefficiency, 
injustice in the courts, outrageous taxes, and ignorant and cor- 
rupt officials. Of course, to this has been added the circum- 
stance that Moslem rulers were often oppressing a Christian 
subject population. 1 At almost any time since 18 15 Turkey 
could have been annihilated by one of the great Christian 
Powers had the other Christian Powers been willing to see 
their neighbor master a great territory which the rest have 
coveted. 

England has dreaded lest Russia seize Constantinople, and 
so control one of the keys to the road to India. Russia has 
dreaded lest Austria seize the Balkan peninsula, and so cut her 
off from that access to the Mediterranean which the Czar's 
statesmen always crave. France, Italy, and Germany have 
their fears and interests in the nearer Orient also. As a result 
the Turkish Empire has been left to misrule and misery: while 
(especially in the Balkan peninsula) the various Christian 

1 Naturally the only government known until lately in Turkey has been an 
unmitigated despotism; but the Turks have not even made that despotism 
efficient. There have been capable sultans, but they have been grievously hin- 
dered in their schemes by the worthless officials through whom they were obliged 
to work. One of the great difficulties of good government in Turkey has been the 
fact that the unfriendly races, Greeks, Bulgarians, Armenians, Turks, Kurds, 
Arabs, etc., have all lived mixed in together, in the same city, or in adjacent 
villages, and it has been impossible to adjust laws and institutions to the needs 
of different races in easily separated districts. The Turks have been no rulers 
to find an outlet to this problem. 



54o 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 




peoples— subject to Turkish tyranny — have time and again 
turned on their oppressor in bloody uprisings. 

The revolt of Greece 1 was the first move in the ejecting of 
the Turks from Europe. In 1853, Czar Nicholas I of Russia, 
believing that " the Sick Man of Europe " (as he styled the 

sultan) was close to polit- 
ical death, and that the 
other Powers would not 
interfere, declared war on 
Turkey and put his armies 
in motion. The czar, how- 
ever, was mistaken in his 
hopes. France and Eng- 
land saw their interests in 
the East menaced, and 
came to the aid of the 
Turks. The Crimean War 2 
which followed (1854-56) 
was neither very desperate nor decisive, but the allies proved 
too powerful for the Russians, and they were compelled to 
make the. Peace of Paris (1856), which practically left the 
Turks as they were — of course, with solemn promises by 
them of " reforms." 

In 1876, the Christian principality of Servia (a vassal state 
of Turkey in the Balkans) declared war on the sultan, alleging 
sympathy for the cruelties practiced by the Turks upon the 
Christians in the neighboring provinces. The Servians were 
no match for the Turks and were quickly defeated; but in 
1877 Russia came to their aid, alleging that all hopes of 

1 See section 266. 

2 The war took its name from the Crimea)! peninsula (South Russia) where 
nearly all the fighting occurred. The main struggle was around the Russian 
fortress of Sevastopol, which the French and English captured after a long and 
bloody siege. All the nations involved showed much bravery in this struggle, 
but relatively little first-class generalship. 



THE CRIMEAN PENINSULA 



THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 541 

reformation in Turkish methods were futile. The Turko- 
Russian War (1877-78) brought the Turks down upon their 
knees. They made a brave defense of the town of Plevna; 
when that fell, however, the Russian troops marched to the 
very suburbs of Constantinople. Russia dictated "the Treaty 
of San Stefano," 1 which (if it had been executed) would have 
left the Turks only a few fragments of land in Europe ; but the 
jealousy of England was now aroused. Lord Beaconsfield (the 
queen's prime minister) threatened war in case the treaty was 
not revised, and the whole matter was reopened at the great 
diplomatic Congress of Berlin (1878), where the representa- 
tives of all the great European Powers met under the presi- 
dency of Prince Bismarck. 

At Berlin, Russia was obliged to allow Turkey to take back 
a considerable part of the territory she had signed away, but 
the loss to the sultan's dominions was none the less terrible. 
The hitherto vassal principalities of Servia, Roumania, and 
the tiny country of Montenegro became independent king- 
doms. 2 Greece was promised an enlargement of territory, and 
a great block of land between Servia and the Black Sea was 
set off into a new principality (nominally subject to the sultan, 
but virtually independent) — Bulgaria — inhabited by a fine, 
virile Christian race that had suffered for centuries from the 
worst kind of Turkish oppression. 3 

The Treaty of Berlin left the Turks only a rather small strip 
of territory in Europe, and released millions of Christians from 
their bondage. Bulgaria rapidly developed into a well-organ- 
ized and enlightened state. In 1908, her " Prince " Ferdinand 
felt his position secure enough to throw off all allegiance to 

1 A small village near Constantinople. 

2 Of course, under the overshadowing influence of the czar, who would never 
fail to remind them of the gratitude they owed him for rescuing them from the 
Turks. 

3 By the arrangement of San Stefano, Bulgaria would have been much larger 
than was permitted at Berlin. Especially she was then denied access to the 
iEgean Sea. Herein lay seeds of future trouble. 



542 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

Turkey, and he proclaimed himself an independent " King." 
Roumania, Greece, and to a less extent Servia made honorable 
progress in peaceful development. The different Balkan 
States hated one another, however, hardly less than they 
hated the Turks. 1 In 1885, Bulgaria and Servia had joined in 
a brief war wherein Bulgaria had been victor. 

Meantime, at Constantinople the Turks had made ill use of 
their respite. The Sultan Abdul-Hamid II (1876-1909)," Abdul 
the Damned," as he was significantly described, was a reac- 
tionary despot of the worst Oriental type. By a kind of 
demoniacal cunning he played off the jealousy of the Great 
Powers one against another and so prevented interference in his 
misrule, while he surrounded himself with grasping sycophants 
and subservient guardsmen; ordered massacres of the Christian 
Armenians (a race that had given signs of disaffection); and 
put to death or drove into exile most of his fellow Turks who 
showed themselves open to Western enlightenment. 2 

But even into Turkey new ideas were bound to penetrate in 
the twentieth century. A native party that took the name of 
Liberalism, the " Young Turks," won over the loyalty of the 
army, and forced the sultan to proclaim a constitution (1908). 3 
The novel experiment of a liberal government for an Oriental 
monarchy had hardly been tested before the sultan foolishly 
tried to expel the reformers and restore absolutism. But the 
army deserted him. He was seized in his palace and deposed 
(1909) and his brother, Mohammed V (a puppet for the 

1 The jealousy arose very largely from the ambition of each state to seize the 
adjacent portions of Turkey (at the next inevitable parceling out of the Ottoman 
Empire) and from a corresponding fear that its Christian neighbor would grow 
at its expense. 

2 As an example of the tyrannical stupidity of Abdul-Hamid's rule may be 
mentioned the fact that in his day Constantinople had no electric lights, because 
electricity required a dynamo and the sultan feared that this was the same as 
dynamite, whereof he lived in perpetual dread! 

3 Nominally this constitution had been proclaimed in 1876, but it had never 
really been put in force. It is now the formal law of the Ottoman Empire, which, 
at least on paper, has a more liberal government than that of Russia. 



544 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

" Young Turk " leaders), was placed in his stead. The new 
regime speedily had to resort to very drastic methods to get 
itself obeyed in the provinces, but it was ruling with fair 
success when Turkey again became involved in foreign war. 

316. The Balkan War (1912-13). The year 191 1 saw the 
beginning of a new partitioning of Turkey when Italy, alleging 
various pretexts, seized Tripoli — the last Ottoman province 
in Africa. 1 The Turks had no navy wherewith to throw rein- 
forcements into Tripoli, and with Italy controlling the seas, 
the war lasted only until the Italians could overcome the stub- 
born but isolated provincial garrison. In 191 2, the Turks made 
peace, surrendering the disputed land to their enemy; but this 
loss was a mere incident to the humiliation about to follow. 

In 191 2, to the amazement of many of the diplomats, the 
Balkan kingdoms of Bulgaria, Scrvia, Montenegro, and Greece 
put aside their hitherto bitter feuds and united in a sudden 
attack on the Turks. The latter seemed to have greater armies 
than all the allies combined, but numbers went for nothing 
before the new organization and the mingled valor and religious 
hate of the Christians. Their enemies had been demoralized 
by internal revolutions, and seem to have been pitifully ill-led. 
At Kirk-Kilisseh the Bulgarians routed the Turks in a great 
battle and marched to the suburbs of Constantinople, while 
the other allies seized most of the rest of European Turkey. 
Long negotiations followed, which ended by the Turks ceding 
nearly all their territories in Europe, save a narrow district 
near Constantinople. Then came a deplorable turn to a war 
hitherto conducted in the name of " Christian civilization " 
against " Moslem barbarism." The victors quarreled over the 
conquered territory. Bulgaria demanded what seemed an unrea- 

1 The Italians had long regarded the seizure of Algeria and Tunis by the 
French with great jealousy, and were anxious for a similar colonial empire in 
Africa. Tripoli is not a very rich and promising district, however, and although 
the Turks have been expelled, the Italians have found it a difficult task to beat 
down the resistance of the Moorish desert tribes. 



|Turkey before the Wars. 

.Western Boundary of Turkey by the Treaty of 
3ucharest 19 13. 
the Treaty of London, It was proposed to make the 
western boundary a straight line from Enos to Midia. 
The Second Balkan War. however resulted in the 
establishment of the boundary as stated above. 
This boundary remains at the present time 
(April, . 1914) but it is quite possible that 

events may occur at any time to change it.) 

I ..i Territory ceded by Bulgaria to Roumania 1913 

Albania is a new state created by the wars.' 




Longitude East 2-1 from G 



THE BALKAN WARS 



546 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

sonable share, and became involved in war with Servia and the 
Greeks (1913). But Roumania (hitherto neutral) now attacked 
Bulgaria in turn. This inexcusable " Second War " was short 
but horribly bloody, and awakened the worst possible passions 
among all the " grim raw races " of the Balkans. Bulgaria was 
entirely defeated and stripped of part of her earlier conquests. 
Servia, Greece, and Roumania were, of course, heavily the 
gainers; but it will be decades before the angry passions awak- 
ened in the Balkans cool and the various kingdoms come 
together on terms of real brotherhood. 1 

317. The Hague Peace Tribunal. The last forty years have 
given painful evidence that the world is still far from an era 
of universal peace, yet there is great encouragement for feeling 
that if wars are not yet abolished, they are being constantly 
avoided, and that such wars as do break out are being carefully 
isolated, the nations only indirectly affected putting forth 
every effort to preserve neutrality and pacify the combatants. 
The great developments of commerce, with its demands for 
law, order, and protection, have done much to aid this; much, 
also, the increasing expense of a great modern war, almost as 
ruinous to the victor as to the vanquished; 2 but the greatest 
factor of all has been a growing belief among all civilized men 
that war is a relic of barbarism to be shunned by every honor- 
able means, and to be employed only as the last bitter resort. 

Already in the nineteenth century the application of inter- 
national arbitration had settled many serious quarrels that in 
earlier times might have been adjusted by the sword. Finally, 

1 One result of the Balkan War has been the creation of the new "Principality 
of Albania," a Mohammedan district on the western side of the peninsula. — 
During the " Second War " the Turks intervened and regained the city of 
Adrianople, which had been seized by Bulgaria in the " First War. " 

2 Under mediaeval conditions any leader, with a few thousand men and half 
a dozen castles, could conduct a considerable "war," and pay his soldiers with 
promises of plunder. To-day, plundering an enemy's country is forbidden by 
international usage, armies are enormous and well paid, and the munitions of 
war ruinously expensive even to a Great Power. Even a relatively "small war" 
will cost each combatant fully $1,000,000 per day. 



THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 547 

in 1899, at the invitation of the Czar of Russia, the famous 
" First Peace Conference " of the delegates of the nations met 
at The Hague to consider projects for promoting peace. It set 
up a permanent voluntary commission for arbitration, and the 
nations were invited to send their disputes thither. In 1907, 
at the instigation of the United States, the " Second Peace 
Conference " met in the old Dutch city, and the scope and 
methods of arbitration were systematized and widened. But 
while The Hague Tribunal has been useful in clearing up many 
minor bickerings that might have led to much hard feeling, 
it has never yet adjusted a really formidable grievance which 
would otherwise have been the basis for a great war, and there 
exists no means of compelling two angry nations to submit 
their disputes for peaceful adjustment. While France re- 
members Alsace and Lorraine; while England distrusts Ger- 
many; while the huge bulk of Russia casts its shadow across 
the suspicious lesser peoples and causes grave anxiety in its 
neighbor Germany; while the Turkish Empire lingers in its 
death and the expectant nations quarrel over the divisions of 
its lands, — so long will even prudent statesmen urge " greater 
armies " and " more battleships," and so long will it seem nigh 
impossible to arbitrate questions which affect not small bound- 
ary problems, nor money indemnities, but the fundamental 
ambitions or hatred of great peoples. 

But the Hague Tribunal means a step in a truly hopeful 
direction. In the Middle Ages " private warfare " seemed 
impossible to abolish. In the twentieth century steady condi- 
tions of public peace have become the fact for nearly all civil- 
ized men. And despite many calamitous wars, there has not 
been any general European war (with all the havoc which such 
a struggle implies) since the fall of Napoleon. It is not unreason- 
able to hope that the twentieth century will see the last formal 
war ever to be recorded between two civilized states. 



548 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

REVIEW 

i. Topics — Commune of Paris; Thiers; General Boulanger; De Les- 
seps; Dreyfus; the Separation Law; the " Lost Provinces"; Gam- 
betta; the " Iron Chancellor "; Militarism; Congress of Berlin; the 
Triple Alliance; the " Entente Cordiale ": Asquith; " Vested Inter- 
ests "; Alexander II; Duma; Nihilists; " Sick Man of Europe "; Cri- 
mean War; Abdul-Hamid II; " Young Turks "; Balkan War; The 
Hague Tribunal. 

2. Geography — 

(a) Locate Berlin; Sevastopol; Paris; Plevna; San Stefano; Kirk- 
Kilisseh ; The Hague. 

(b) Mark Alsace-Lorraine; Tripoli; Tunis; Transvaal; Orange 
Free State; the Russian Empire; Manchuria; Japan; The 
Crimea; Algeria. 

(c) Mark the steps in the decline of the Ottoman Empire in 
Europe from the sixteenth century to 1913. 

(d) Mark the chief colonial possessions of Great Britain, France, 
Germany, and Italy. 

(e) Mark the boundaries of the Balkan States before and after the 
Balkan Wars of 19 13. 

(/) Indicate the extent of the Mohammedan power in Europe at 
its height, and compare with its extent in 1913. 

3. How do you account for the continuance of the Republic in France, 
if Napoleon was right when he said, "You Frenchmen love mon- 
archy"? 

4. How is it possible for the Government in Germany to control legisla- 
tion, if it is in a minority? 

5. Why were France and England "natural enemies" formerly, and why 
are they no longer so? 

6. What are the peculiar internal problems confronting each nation in 
Europe at present? What are the external problems? 

7. In what nations have important constitutional changes occurred 
during the period covered by this chapter? Describe the changes. 

8. Is the Triple Alliance based upon the general good will of the parties, 
or upon necessity? Explain your answer. Compare with the "Entente 
Cordiale." 

9. How do you explain the fact that Russia is far behind western Europe 
in civilization? 

10. Why have the Turks been allowed to remain in Europe? Are they 
likely to remain permanently? Give reasons for your answer. 

11. What events in the period show the importance of "sea-power"; i.e., 
the control of the sea? 

12. What modern conditions in Europe tend to maintain peace, and what 
ones tend to produce jvvar, between the nations? 



THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 549 

EXERCISES 

1. The French Constitution of 1875. 

2. The conflicts between the Papacy and the French and German Govern- 
ments. 

3. The Eastern Question in the nineteenth century. 

4. The formation of the new states in the Balkan Peninsula. 

5. European colonies and "spheres of influence" in Africa. 

6. The influence of European civilization upon the Asiatic nations. 

7. Does the fact that several of the European nations have numerous 
Mohammedan colonies, influence the attitude taken by those nations 
toward Turkey? 

8. The Peace Conferences at The Hague. 

READINGS 

Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 262-65, 296-334, 355-76. Lewis: 
PP- 7S3~73- Duruy: pp. 661-84. Lodge: chapter xxvnr. Robinson 
and Beard: vol. 11, passim; especially pp. 130-80; 220-23; 251—57; 
and 261-378. 



CHAPTER XLI 

THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 

We have perforce treated the nineteenth century in Europe 
as if it were a series of national stories, only blended usually 
when the nations in question collided in diplomacy and arms. 
But this is only very partially the case. Since 1815 there has 
been a surprising number of common factors in European 
public life which have affected almost all the great states 
to a marked extent. National boundaries have partly crum- 
bled. A new idea in France is sure to have its prompt reaction 
in Italy, in Germany, in England. The world of commerce 
(despite hampering customs-duties and tariffs) has become 
more and more international. Not one but a large number of 
new forces have been at work, and every one making for more 
intelligence, greater private happiness, and above all for the 
abolition of political privilege and absolutism. This is true of 
every nation, even of half-mediaeval Russia. To discuss these 
common factors fully would take many volumes. We can only 
state them in a few words as the climax to this long historical 
narrative. 

318. The recovery of Democracy after the French Revolu- 
tion. The excesses of the French Revolution, followed as they 
were by the destructive work of Napoleon, " the child of the 
Revolution," reacted upon the whole democratic theory. For 
long after 181 5 many intelligent, well-meaning men, especially 
of the property-owning class, regarded u legitimacy " (i.e., 
monarchy) as the only safeguard against anarchy, and even 
moderate reforms were denounced as " Jacobinism." Very 
gradually the pendulum swung back. It was realized that, 
though the French radicals had been too hasty in making the 



THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 



5Si 



transition from mediasvalism to liberty, the theories whereon 
their radicalism rested — the " Rights of Man " and " Liberty, 
Equality, and Frater- 
nity," were matters 
of profound truth. 
Only, of course, the 
millennium of freedom 
must come, not amid 
one wild holocaust of 
" effete institutions, " 
but through a process 
of slow, often painful, 
evolution. By 1900, the 
theories so crudely ad- 
vanced in 1789 were 
daily being put into 
successful practice, and 
were constantly win- 
ning new converts in 
every civilized land. 

319. The example of the United States. When the twentieth 
century dawned, the statesmen of Europe had had before their 
eyes for more than three generations the example of a really 
great and successful free government — the United States of 
America. Much of the success of America was, indeed, due 
to its isolation from Old World problems, such as the need of 
standing armies, the difficulty of abolishing long-standing 
abuses, and the like. Part, too, of our success came from the 
possession of a great undeveloped continent, full of natural 
resources, and demanding exploitation. But in any case the 
success of America had a tremendous reaction upon Europe. 
Here was a standing refutation of the old allegation that free 
governments — except on a very limited scale l — had never 

1 Of course it was sometimes admitted that such a small city-republic as 




WATER-CARRIER, ABOUT 1830 
(After a lithograph by Bellange) 



552 



HISTORY OF EUROPE 



been a success. The saving of the American Union in our Civil 
War was a capital event for Europe : it proved that the greatest 
experiment ever made in practical democracy was not likely 
to fail. American prosperity has strengthened the hands of 
every liberal reformer from Spain to Russia. 

320. The industrial revolution. In 1789, most Europeans 
were supported by agriculture. By 1900, although Russia, 
Hungary and to a less extent France and Germany had large 
farming interests, commerce and manufacturing had become 




FARM INTERIOR IN 1878 (FRANCE) 

more and more the bases for the wealth of the whole Continent. 
Not merely England, but many other countries — especially 
Germany, France, Belgium, and Holland — profit enormously 
by the new markets which modern railways and steamships 
have opened in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. On the Conti- 
nent, as somewhat earlier in England, the " Industrial Revolu- 

Athens had been a fair success. As for the Roman Republic, history taught that 
as soon as the Romans won a great dominion they had to change their govern- 
ment into "the Empire" — a monarchy. The corruption — real or alleged — 
of American politics has often destroyed the value of American examples in 
Europe, but even with all deductions the fact has remained that the United 
States is a powerful, prosperous, and free country, competing with Europe in all 
the activities of civilization. 




ISAAC NEWTON 

Mathematician 

Born 1642 Died 1727 



RICHARD ARKWRIGHT 

Inventor 

Born 1732 Died 1792 




GEORGE STEPHENSON 

Engineer 

Bora 1781 Died 1848 

PIONEERS OF SCIENCE 



CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN 

Naturalist 

Born 1800 Died 1882 



THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 553 

tion " has reacted upon political life, and always to advance 
the cause of democracy. The premium set upon personal 
wealth, capital, and efficiency, instead of on noble birth and 
ancestral acres, has shaken the prestige of, even if it has not 
destroyed, the old aristocracies that rest on mediaeval tradi- 
tions. The lower classes have been brought together even more 
constantly in cities : l and in great cities the toilers can combine 
for mutual betterment or for agitation infinitely more easily 
than as so many scattered farmers. And finally — a matter 
often overlooked but not to be despised — the shifting of men's 
interest to manufacturing and commerce, with their keen 
competitions, . has put a premium on invention: — some new 
scientific devices which will distance a commercial rival and 
lead to honorable gain. This spirit of invention, which is the 
very life of progressive modern manufacturing, is bound also 
to have a marked political effect. 2 Men are generally more 

1 This is particularly true of Germany, where certain cities such as Berlin, 
Hamburg, and Leipzig, have grown by leaps and bounds, as rapidly as many 
"western" cities in America. 

2 Of course, the influence of the new manufacturing machinery has been, from 
the standpoint of general civilization, simply enormous. It has been estimated 
that the new machinery has added the equivalent of many millions to the 
"non-human working population" of the civilized world. The new means of 
communication and the far-reaching influences of modern commerce make these 
new methods of manufacturing spread their influence to every corner of the 
globe. "A nickel spent for thread in Uganda, Central Africa, sets the spindle 
going in Manchester, England." We are too near to this great revolution to 
decide on its final results: we can be sure that it will be put down in future his- 
tories as a tremendously important event. 

The early use of machinery by the English was a large factor in making them, 
during the first half of the nineteenth century, the manufacturing leaders of 
the world. The great wars between 1789 and 1815 had demoralized much of 
the industrial life of the Continent, and almost prohibited the introduction of the 
new machinery (engines, power-looms, etc.). But after 1815, France began to 
develop herself as a great industrial nation. In 1812, she had only one small 
stationary engine; in 1847, she had nearly five thousand. Nor were the French 
content to copy English methods merely; their natural genius for invention sug- 
gested one improvement after another, until to-day there is hardly a manufac- 
ture in the world which does not owe much to some innovating Frenchman. This 
development of French industry brought with it a corresponding increase in the 
French cities, and Paris in particular had a marked growth in the nineteenth 
century. 



554 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

willing now to accept what is new if it really seems superior, 
whether in the realm of industry or of statecraft; and the same 
prevailing instinct which will inspire one person to invent a 
new machine for making shoes will inspire another to devise 
some new scheme for securing more equable representation for 
minorities in a legislature. 

321. The new means of communication. We have seen how 
in the Middle Ages the introduction or exchange of new ideas 
was almost an impossibility, owing to the great physical diffi- 
culties of traveling. Even as late as 1789, in France, England, 
and Germany to go fifty miles per day by stage-coach on land, 
or a hundred miles by sailing-packet on water, was not steadily 
to be reckoned upon. Six months was a common voyage to 
India. 1 About 1830, steamboats began to ply the North Sea 
and the Mediterranean in appreciable numbers, and at about 
the same time commenced the building of railroads. These 
great inventions have done almost as much for Europe as for 
America; they have brought London within seven hours of 

In Germany the new industrial progress hardly came until after 1840. In 
1842, a German professor could assert that the country had little to fear from 
socialistic movements, for there was no distinct "worker" class in the land — 
apart from the country peasants. But conditions speedily changed. Better 
political adjustments and greater enlightenment led to the increased use of 
machinery, and in certain specialties — especially in every manufacture where 
the new scientific processes could be applied — the Germans showed remarkable 
aptitude. The result was a development of industries on a scale larger than those 
of France, and rivaling the English. After 1870, there was a perfect mania in 
Germany for forming stock companies, followed, naturally, by a collapse of the 
"boom," and a temporary set-back, but marking a genuine advance of the 
Germans as an industrial nation. Of recent years German manufacturers have 
been thrusting more and more into the markets of the world, and thereby earning 
the wrath of the English, who had formerly almost a monopoly of most manu- 
factured articles of commerce. The twentieth century will decide whether 
Germany can distance England as the first commercial and industrial nation of 
Europe, or whether both countries must succumb to the slowly awakening 
economic power of the huge empire of Russia. 

1 Even to cross the British Channel with the old packets might involve a 
delay of several days, if the winds were contrary and tied up the shipping. For 
practical purposes, Spain was more remote from England in 1789 than South 
America is to-day. 



THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 



555 




WHEELWRIGHTS IN THE DAYS OF THE STAGE- 
COACH 

(After a contemporary etching by Duplessis-Bertaux) 



Paris, and Paris within twenty-two hours of Vienna. The old 
isolation — so conducive to local prejudice as well as to sheer 
ignorance — is brok- 
en down, and human 
brotherhood and civ- 
ilization are incalcu- 
lably the gainers. 

322. The new con- 
sciousness of nation- 
ality. But while the 
old isolation of igno- 
rance is ending, the 
sense of patriotism 
based on loyalty to 
a local fatherland is 
still strong. The bar- 
riers of language, race, and religion are still mighty, as any 
American traveler can testify who has, for instance, passed 
suddenly from Germany to France. In the nineteenth century 
the struggles of various peoples to secure firm, united, national 
governments (notably in Germany and Italy) seemed to 
kindle patriotism to a white heat. But this patriotism has not 
been of the petty, ignoble kind; in the hot fires of a common 
sacrifice much that is best in human nature has been evoked. 
Rich and poor, nobleman and peasant, have seen their caste 
barriers vanish in a united effort against an oppressor or an 
invader. The ruling classes have everywhere been forced to 
conciliate the masses in order to win their effective loyalty. 
The winning of national unity for Italy and Germany by its 
very conditions implied the growth of political liberty as well. 

323. The spread of education. In 1789 the bulk of the peas- 
antry in almost all European countries was pitifully illiterate 
and ignorant. The governing classes could justly say that such 
oafish, unschooled creatures could not pretend to participate 



556 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

in politics; they ought only to " take thankfully what God and 
the King sent to them." But the growth of humane sentiments 
and the rising power of the lower classes forced a complete 
change. Every European country has developed a fairly 
complete educational system. 1 In theory every peasant now 
has a chance at an elementary education, and the percentage 
of illiterates even in Russia is constantly dwindling. The 
aristocrats have been forced to this in actual self-defense. 
" Now we must educate our new masters! " bitterly exclaimed 
a prominent English statesman, when the British Reform 
Act of 1867 gave the franchise to the poorer classes. By 19 14 
most Europeans were relatively trained and intelligent lords 
of their own destinies, not loutish and hopelessly ignorant 
peasants. 

324. The Free Press. Along with the free schools has gone 
the development of the greatest single agent for spreading 
liberal doctrines — the modern newspaper. Something like 
newspapers have existed in England since the reign of Charles 
I, but stern police censorship checked all real journalistic 
enterprise on the Continent till the Revolutionary epoch. 2 
Since then absolutism and reaction have found the free press 
their most inveterate enemy. Despite censorships, suppres- 
sions, confiscations, and like measures the newspapers have 
developed in every European country until to-day they speak 
with freedom almost everywhere save in Russia. 3 The cylinder 
printing-press (which came into use after 18 10) and the electric 

1 Of course, Germany and France have admirable educational systems; the 
English primary education has not developed quite as far as that of the most 
advanced Continental nations, thanks largely to controversies as to how far the 
State Church shall be allowed to have control of teaching the pupils. 

2 The year 1789 saw a veritable crop of newspapers and party organs develop 
in Paris, and Paris has been a center for influential journalism ever since. 

3 The law for libel is still extremely severe in Germany and some other coun- 
tries and hinders legitimate criticism of the Crown and its Ministers, and some- 
times of ordinary political matters. It must be said that the Continental press 
is often exceedingly personal and scurrilous in a way which is not imitated by 
even the worst types of American journalism. 



THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 557 

telegraph have, of course, been indispensable adjuncts to the 
development of this power which every absolutist has come to 
dread, and with which every prime minister must daily reckon. 

325. The new military system. Since the age of Napoleon, 
the military system of Europe has been remade and (quite 
contrary to the desires of the ruling military class) the change 
has furthered democracy. Up to 1789, the average European 
army was relatively small, and composed of professional 
soldiers who spent their whole lives " with the colors." Since 
18 1 5 all Europe has tended to rest more and more on huge 
conscript armies in which all male citizens are obliged to serve 
two or three years. l These conscripts may be brave and effi- 
cient soldiers, but they are none the less citizens in their senti- 
ments and prejudices, and they expect to return to civilian 
life. The Governments dare not wantonly engage in wars 
which public opinion does not fairly sustain — the army might 
not support them. Again, to secure the consent of the masses 
to such a burdensome military system, it is necessary to concili- 
ate those masses by many liberal reforms. The military burden 
on Europe may, then, be a very serious evil, but it is not an 
unmixed evil: democracy has been genuinely advanced by 
these huge citizen armies. 

326. The enormous expenses of modern governments. 
Democracy again has been advanced by the fact that all mod- 
ern governments cost probably five to ten times as much (all 
factors considered) as they did one hundred years ago. For- 
merly the army and an expensive court ate up about all an 
average ruler's revenues: now — while the military establish- 
ment has greatly increased — vast sums are drained away for 

1 The huge size of the present-day armies has had also this important political 
result: it is now less easy to organize an insurrection than formerly. The average 
government has so many thousands of men at its disposal that the physical task 
of arranging a successful revolt is nigh insuperable. On the other hand, the 
modern inventions of dynamite bombs and the like have made it easier for revo- 
lutionists to carry on a petty "private war" by the assassination of rulers. 



558 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

education and for every possible kind of internal improvement. 
The increased taxes are usually cheerfully borne, for they are 
more scientifically adjusted than under the old regime, and the 
old privileges of tax exemption for many classes are abolished; 
nevertheless, it is impossible to collect these taxes except under 
two conditions: the taxpayers must feel that the money is 
being spent for their benefit and not to . aggrandize a selfish 
monarch; secondly, practically every country now recognizes 
that the taxpayers must have a share (through a parliament) 
in voting the taxes, and deciding upon their expenditure. 
Arbitrary taxation or expenditure will soon be unknown in 
any so-called civilized land. 

327. Socialism. During the nineteenth century the great 
struggle in European political life has seemed to be for political 
equality for all men. That struggle has now been substantially 
won. Signs are not lacking that the next struggle will be for 
economic equality. Long before 1900, socialism had become a 
great factor in most European states. Its doctrines were clearly 
in evidence even before the troubles in Paris in 1848 and 1871, 
and it can, perhaps, claim a French origin; but the great apostle 
of modern socialism was a German — Karl Marx (1818-83). 
The Socialists are now an active and formidable party in every 
European state. They assert that the reforms won hitherto 
are a mere drop in the bucket compared with those which 
should follow. Mediaeval privilege has crumbled; but, they 
assert, the real gainers have not been the toiling masses, but the 
propertied classes, — the capitalists, — whose wage system, 
and private ownership of the " means of production," consti- 
tute a tyranny almost as brutal as that of the robber barons. 
The Socialists denounce the modern army system, and declare 
that there should be no war between nations, but only between 
class and class; in fact their movement tries to disregard 
national lines just as much as possible. Whether their propa- 
ganda for abolishing the " capitalist system," and virtually 




VOLTAIRE 

French author 

Bom 1694 Died 1778 





JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU 

French author 
Born 1712 Died 1778 




GIUSEPPE MAZZINI 

Italian patriot and revolutionist 

Born 1805 Died 1872 

PROPHETS OF DEMOCRACY 



KARL MARX 

German socialist 

Born 1818 Died 1883 



THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 559 

obliterating national boundaries will succeed, is one of the 
questions to be answered by the twentieth century. 

328. A summary and retrospect. We have come to the end 
of a very long story. We have seen how in the fourth Christian 
century the civilized world lay under the power of the Roman 
Empire, a magnificent despotism, but with the canker of decay 
at its heart. After the Roman Empire came the seemingly 
ruinous period of the Germanic invasions, when civilization 
would almost have perished save for the humanizing influence 
of the Christian Church. Then follows the long pageant of the 
Frankish Kingdom, the Holy Roman Empire, the mediaeval 
Papacy, and especially the feudal system, with its glitter and 
misery, its brave deeds and anarchy, its heroic crusades and 
their ultimate failure. After the crusades comes the Renais- 
sance and the rise of modern national kingdoms, with firm 
governments and intelligent laws, and (in England) institu- 
tions which promise not merely law and order, but genuine 
human liberty. A great upheaval — the Protestant Revolu- 
tion — cleaves the old Church asunder, and a daring attempt 
is made by Louis XIV to subject all Europe to France. Finally, 
in 1789, the relics of medievalism and feudalism are destroyed 
in France (and soon after in Germany) by the great social and 
political cataclysm which we call the French Revolution. 
Since the passing of the arch-destroyer Napoleon, Europe has 
further emancipated itself from the past and has reached confi- 
dently toward the future. England has moved closer to democ- 
racy; France has found an orderly free government; Germany 
has become again a great and enlightened empire; Italy also 
forms a single powerful people; Turkey has almost been expelled 
from Europe; even the dense, ignorant mass of Russia is stir- 
' ring with the spirit of a new age. 

The long, slow battle, waged since the days of the Roman 
Empire, for a reign of law along with a reign of political liberty, 
has been substantially won. The next revolution probably will 
turn upon factors not strictly political but economic. In any 



560 HISTORY OF EUROPE 

case the future is full of hope. The lessons and sacrifices of the 
past ages have not been in vain. There are many grievous 
abuses and wrongs in the world to-day, but they are on the 
defensive, and year by year they become weaker. Every year 
sees a closer approach to the reign among nations, as well as 
among individuals, of intelligence, kindliness, justice, and 
righteousness. 

The great English poet Tennyson has expressed what should 
be the decision of every thoughtful and candid student of mod- 
ern history : — 

" [Yet], I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs, 
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns." 

REVIEW 

i. Topics: — "Legitimacy"; Industrial Revolution; Karl Marx; So- 
cialism. 

2. Make and learn a list of the factors in the growth of democracy, 
grouping them under the heads of political, social, and economic factors. 

3. Make a list of the more important European nations, arranging them 
in the order of their democracy; i.e., the extent to which the voice of the 
people controls the national government. Indicate in each case the 
form of government — monarchy (absolute or limited) or republic. 

4. Which nations in the above list are most "progressive"? 

EXERCISES 

1. Which of the European nations has exerted the greatest political 
influence upon the others? 

2. Which nations have contributed most to the progress of civilization? 

3. What has been the influence of commerce upon international politics 
and the spread of civilization? 

4. Socialism in Europe. Distinguish between Socialism and Radicalism. 

5. Are the life, the liberty, and the property of individuals better secured 
by the European Governments at present than they were in the days 
of the Roman Empire? 

6. Compare the art, science, and literature of the present age with the 
same features of the Renaissance period. 

READINGS 

Sources. Robinson; nos. 493-504. 

Modem accounts. Seignobos: pp. 377-451. Gibbins: pp. 200-10, 226-28. 
Robinson and Beard: 11, pp. 318-422. Current literature. 



APPENDIX 

I. A LIST OF DATES OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN 

EUROPEAN HISTORY 
A.D. 

378 Battle of Adrianople. Made possible the " Germanization " of the 

Roman Empire. 
451 Battle of Chalons. Saved western Europe from the Huns. 
622 The Hegira (or Flight) of Mohammed. Marks the beginning of 

his power. 
732 Battle of Tours. Western Europe saved from the control of the 

Mohammedans. 
800 Charlemagne crowned Emperor at Rome. Resulted in unnatural 
political conditions which dominated the Middle Ages. 

1066 Battle of Hastings. The Norman Conquest, which made possible 
the development of the English nation. 

1095 Council of Clermont. The beginning of the crusades. 

1215 Magna Charta. Defines the rights of Englishmen, serves as a 
standard of government for later reigns, and gives inspiration 
to other peoples in their struggles for political liberty. 

1295 Model Parliament. Beginning of elected representative govern- 
ment in England. 

1415 Council of Constance. The end of the Great Schism; Rome 
restored to the headship of a reunited Church. 

1453 Capture of Constantinople by the Turks. Thus the "Eastern 
Question" arises, and a great impulse is given to the move- 
ment of discovery. 

1456 The first book, a Latin Bible, printed by Gutenberg at Mainz. 
The beginning of an art which made possible modern civiliza- 
tion. 

1492 Columbus discovers America. 

1 51 7 Martin Luther nails his thesis on the door of the church at 
Wittenberg. The first immediate step in the Protestant 
Revolution. 

1534 The separation of England from the control of Rome is com- 
pleted. Marks the first ■ great step in making England a 
Protestant nation. 

1555 Peace of Augsburg. End of first period of the Reformation. 



ii APPENDIX 

1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada. Gave to England the control of 
the sea, and made possible the English colonization of the 
United States. 

1648 Peace of Westphalia. Marks the end of the religious wars; France 
becomes the leading power in Europe. 

1688 The " Glorious Revolution " in England. Completed the work of 
Cromwell; established the fact that Parliament, not the king, 
is the supreme power in England; made possible the develop- 
ment of a political system (Cabinet, or Ministry responsible 
to Parliament) which has been a model for other nations. 

1704 Battle of Blenheim. By which was defeated the attempt of Louis 
XIV to make France supreme in Europe. 

1709 Battle of Poltava. Marked the overthrow of Sweden as a great 
power, and the rise of a great Slav nation, Russia, to a leading 
place among European States. 

1763 Peace of Paris. Gave to England a colonial empire at the expense 
of France; prepared the way for the American Revolution. 

1789 Meeting of the States General in France. The first immediate 
step toward the French Revolution. 

1815 Battle of Waterloo. Defeated the attempt of Napoleon to make 
himself supreme in Europe. Congress of Vienna. Europe as- 
sumes its nineteenth century aspect. 

1832 Great Reform of the British Parliament. Made possible the com- 
ing of Democracy in Great Britain. 

1 86 1 Meeting of the First Parliament of United Italy. 

1 87 1 (a) King of Prussia crowned German Emperor at Versailles. 
The completion of German unity. 
(b) Rome made capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The completion 
of Italian unity. 

n. A LIST OF THE BOOKS FROM WHICH ASSIGNMENTS 
FOR "READING" ARE DRAWN 

The books marked with a star are very helpful in the work planned under the topic 
"Exercises," but they are not essential in securing satisfactory results, and may be 
omitted from the library if it is not possible to purchase all the books. 

Sources 
F. A. Ogg, A Source Book of Mediceval History. American Book Co. 
J. H. Robinson, Readings in European History. 2 vols. Ginn & Co. 

The Source Book is more useful than the Readings for the period it 
. covers (to the first part of the fifteenth century), because, though it has 
fewer selections from the sources, there are complete explanatory foot- 
notes, and excellent introductory notes, very comprehensive and illu- 



APPENDIX iii 

minating. If necessary to economize, the Source Book and the second 
volume of the Readings would cover the ground. 

Modem Accounts 
E. Emerton, Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages (to 814). 
Ginn & Co. 
^Mediaeval Europe (814-1300). Ginn & Co. 
The Introduction is too well known to need comment, except to say 
that it remains unequaled and indispensable. 

The Mediceval Europe is excellent for its analysis of events, but is too 

far advanced, on the whole, for secondary-school pupils. Parts of it are, 

however, necessary for reference. 

C. Seignobos, A History of Mediceval and Modern Civilization (to the end 

of the seventeenth century). Charles Scribner's Sons. 

A History of Contemporary Civilization. Charles Scribner's 

Sons. 
*The Feudal Regime. Henry Holt & Co. 
The two volumes of the History of Civilization, although occasionally 
inaccurate, particularly with regard to English and American institu- 
tions, are intensely interesting and inspiring. 

The Feudal Regime, while too technical for continued reading, is very 
valuable for reference. 
Bemont and Monod, Mediceval Europe (395-1270). Henry Holt & Co. 
Very concise and clear, with the emphasis laid upon the development 
of France. For that reason an excellent book for English-speaking 
peoples. 
V. Duruy, History of France (to 1889). Thomas Y. Crowell Co. 
C. T. Lewis, History of Germany (to 1872). American Book Co. 
R. Lodge, History of Modern Europe (1453-1878). American Book Co. 
For the modern period, the best one-volume accounts at moderate 
prices. Reliable, and sufficiently complete for all purposes of reference. 
*Archer and Kingsford, The Crusades. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 

The most convenient account of the crusades at a moderate price. 
Interestingly written. 
*J. A. Symonds, A Short History of the Renaissance in Italy. Henry 
Holt & Co. 

The best brief account of the Italian Renaissance, although too con- 
densed to be greatly interesting. Very valuable for reference. Abridg- 
ment of the work mentioned on p. vi. 
H. de B. Gibbins, The History of Commerce in Europe. TheMacmillan Co. 
An excellent account of the development of European commerce, 
well-written and clear. An adequate use of this book will show clearly 
the influence of economic facts upon political conditions. 

A good history of England: — C. Ransome's Advanced History of 
England is suggested. Almost equally good is Gardiner's (see p. ix.) 



iv APPENDIX 

R. P. Dunn Pattison, Leading Figures in European History. The Mac- 

millan Co. 

A collection of penetrating studies of the deeds and characters of the 

greatest leaders in European History, from Charlemagne to Bismarck. 

The concluding paragraphs of each study, in which the character of the 

individual is analyzed, and his influence upon history estimated, are 

unexcelled for fairness and keenness of insight. 
J. H. Robinson and C. A. Beard. The Development of Modern Europe. 

2 vols. Ginn and Co. Illuminating account of events since 1661 a.d. 

Very strong in nineteenth-century economic and social movements. 

III. SELECT LIST OF BOOKS ON EUROPEAN HISTORY 

The books here named ought to be in almost any good public library. They will 
be found useful by those students of this history who wish to read beyond the works 
mentioned at the end of each chapter. Of course this list is merely a beginning to 
possible suggestions. 

Works of reference 

Historical Atlases: The best atlas for most students of European History 
is by W. R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas (Henry Holt & Co.). No other 
atlas published in English equals it for clearness, general usefulness, and 
accuracy: although for a very cheap work the Literary and Historical 
Atlas of Europe, in the excellent " Everyman's Library" (E. P. Dutton & 
Co.) is of remarkable value, and within the means of every student. 

The Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition) contains historical 
articles which are of the highest value, and the student should refer to 
them frequently. The historical volumes of the Home University Library 
Series (Henry Holt & Co.) are excellent. Ploetz's Epitome of Universal 
History (Houghton Mifflin Co.) is a convenient reference book, crammed 
with facts. Larned's Encyclopcedia of History for Ready Reference is a 
very useful compilation. The University of Pennsylvania Series of His- 
torical Translations and Reprints give many convenient and valuable 
studies especially of mediaeval economic, social, and religious life. 

Histories of France 

G. W. Kitchen, History of France. 3 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 
Goes only to 1792. A useful, straightforward work: interestingly 
written. 

Guizot, F. P. G., History of France. 8 vols. Several American editions. 
Stops at 1848. By a distinguished statesman and historian "for his 
grandchildren": delightful reading, but too diffuse for reference and 
topical work. 

Duruy, Victor, History of France. Thomas Y. Crowell Co. Not faultless, 
but probably the best single-volume history of France. Full of infor- 
mation. See also Appendix 11. 



APPENDIX v 

Grant, A. J., The French Monarchy. 2 vols. Cambridge Press. A well- 
written, scholarly, and preeminently useful treatment of the important 
period of French History from 1483 to 1789 a.d. 

Adams, G. B., Growth of the French Nation. The Macmillan Co. A clear 
summary, but somewhat brief, considering the long period covered. 

Froissart's Chronicles ("Everyman's Library"). An inimitable and 
immortal contemporary narrative of the first part of the Hundred 
Years' War. 

Perkins, J. B., France under Richelieu and Mazarin. 2 vols. G. P. 
Putnam's Sons. 

Perkins, J. B., France under the Regency. Houghton Mifflin Co. Gives 
a good preliminary sketch of the period under Louis XIV. 

Perkins, J. B., France under Louis XV. 2 vols. Houghton Mifflin Co. 
Taken together these volumes by Perkins form an entertaining and 
highly valuable history of France during a most important period. 

Lowell, E. J., The Eve of the French Revolution. Houghton Mifflin Co. 
Excellent account of the causes of the greatest political and social 
movement in modern history. (Taine's Old Regime is stimulating, but 
not infallible.) 

Mathews, Shailer, The French Revolution. Longmans, Green & Co. 
The best short account. Reliable and interesting. 

Gardiner, B. M., The French Revolution. Longmans, Green & Co. A 
small volume in the well-known "Epochs of History" series. Almost 
as good as that of Mathews. 

Rose, J. H., Life of Napoleon. 2 vols. The Macmillan Co. Probably the 
best standard life of Napoleon, though written somewhat from a pro- 
British standpoint. 

Sloane, William M., Life of Napoleon. 4 vols. The Century Co. An 
excellent work. Shares the field with Rose. The fine illustrated edition 
is to be preferred. 

Young, Arthur, Travels in France. The Macmillan Co. A highly inform- 
ing account of the travels of .an Englishman in France just before the 
outbreak of the Revolution of 1789. 

[N.B. A convenient and scholarly history of nineteenth-century 
France — apart from the rest of Europe — is not available in English.] 

Histories of Germany 
Henderson, E. F., A Short History of Germany. 2 vols. The Macmillan 

Co. Readable, accurate. Probably best. 
Menzel, History of Germany. 3 vols. "Bohn Library." Goes only to 

1848. An old but fairly reliable work. Gives many picturesque details 

not in Henderson's History. 
Bryce, J., The Holy Roman Empire. The Macmillan Co. A famous 

essay on the mediaeval German Empire. 
Jacobs, H. E., Life of Martin Luther. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 



vi APPENDIX 

Smith, P., Life of Martin Luther. Houghton Mifflin Co. 

Both of these give interesting and accurate biographies of the famous 
Reformer, from a Protestant standpoint. 

Fletcher, C. R. L., Gustavus Adolphus. G. P. Putnam's Sons. An 
excellent biography of the hero of the Thirty Years' War. 

Gardiner, S. R., The Thirty Years' War. Charles Scribner's Sons. An 
enlightening sketch by a master historian. 

Longman, F. W., Frederick the Great and The Seven Years' War. Long- 
mans, Green & Co. About the most satisfactory brief study of the 
maker of Prussian greatness. 

Headlam, J. W., Bismarck and the Founding of the German Empire. G. P. 
Putnam's Sons. The Bismarck literature is voluminous. This is pos- 
sibly the most useful of several good biographies. That by Munroe 
Smith is almost equally available. 

Other Continental Countries 

Motley, J. L., The Revolt of the Netherlands (3 vols.), and The Dutch 
Republic (4 vols.). Harpers', and other editions. Among the most 
brilliant historical works in the English language. The story of the 
contest of William the Silent with Philip II is told with dramatic skill. 
Motley was a careful historian, but his admiration for William some- 
times makes him unfair to his hero's enemies. 

Symonds, J. A., The Renaissance in Italy. 7 vols. Charles Scribner's Sons. 
Interestingly though diffusely written books on the artists, poets, 
churchmen, and princes of Italy during the age of the Classical Revival. 
Very useful for all topics on the "civilization " side. 

Orsi, P., Story of Modern Italy. G. P. Putnam's Sons. A good short 
account of the making of the Italian kingdom. 

Thayer, W. R., Life and Times of Cavour. 2 vols. Houghton Mifflin Co. 
A masterly and authoritative study of a great man. Interesting and 
valuable. 

Rambaud, A., History of Russia. 2 vols. Burt. The best account in 
English. 

Lane-Poole, S., Story of Turkey. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 

Lane-Poole, S., Story of the Moors in Spain. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 

Good narratives of the worst and the best, respectively, of the great 
Mohammedan empires. 

Special Studies in the Middle Ages and the Mediaeval Church. 
Oman, C. W. C, The Dark Ages, 476-918 a.d. The Macmillan Co. 
Tout, T. F., The Empire and the Papacy, 918-1273 a.d. The Macmillan 

Co. 
Lodge, R., The Close of the Middle Ages, 1 273-1494 a.d. The Macmil- 
lan Co. 

Well written manuals in the "Periods of European History" series. 



APPENDIX vii 

More full of facts than of interpretation. Treat of all the important 
countries in Europe except England. 

Cox, G. W., The Crusades. Longmans, Green & Co. 

Archer and Kingsford, The Story of the Crusades. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 
The first is a convenient short account of the crusades: the second 
the best single account in English. See Appendix in, p. iii . 

Milman, H. H., History of Latin Christianity. 8 vols, (often bound in 4) . 
Armstrong. A long and standard history by a careful, moderate 
English churchman. Few other works discuss the mediaeval Papacy 
and Empire with equal clearness. Deals also with the intellectual life 
of the Middle Ages, and many political events. Useful for reference, 
and for preparing reports and topics. Stops at 1453 a.d. 

Barry, W., The Papal Monarchy. G. P. Putnam's Sons. An interestingly 
written work on the mediaeval Popes by a distinguished Catholic 
writer. 

Sedgwick, H. D., Italy in the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Houghton 
Mifflin Co. Interesting study of the art, literature, and life in the 
Church of one of the most important periods of mediaeval history. 
Useful for reports and topics. 

Thayer, W. R., A Short History of Venice. The Macmillan Co. Best 
brief study of the great maritime Republic. 

Gilman, Arthur, Story of the Saracens. G. P. Putnam's Sons. A clear 
account of Mohammed and the conquests and empire of his followers. 

HoDGKiN, Th., Charles the Great. The Macmillan Co. A short but illu- 
minating biography of the greatest figure in the Middle Ages. 

Adams, George B., Civilization in the Middle Ages. Charles Scribner's 
Sons. Not a history, but rather a stimulating commentary on many 
phases of mediaeval life. 

Munro and Sellery, Medieval Civilization. The Century Co. Judicious 
extracts in translation from recent French and German authors, dealing 
with important phases of mediaeval history. 

Munro, CD., History of the Middle Ages. D. Appleton & Co. A brief 
sketch of the period 800-1300 a.d. Especially useful for the social life. 

Gibbon, Edward, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 5 to 7 vols. 
Many editions. A great standard work: in the present case especially 
useful for the chapters on the fall of the Western Empire, Justinian, 
Mohammed, the Caliphate, and the Crusades. The edition edited by 
Bury (7 vols., The Macmillan Co.) is by far preferable. 

Special Studies of Modern Epochs 
Seebohm, F., The Era of the Protestant Revolution. Longmans, Green & 
Co. A brief but clear and enlightening study of the Reformation era, 
with especial stress upon its economic aspects. 



viii APPENDIX 

Lindsey, T. M., History of the Reformation. 2 vols. Charles Scribner's 
Sons. Very readable. Perhaps the best study from a strictly Protestant 
standpoint. Well arranged for reference work. 

Johnson, A. H., Europe in the Sixteenth Century. (1494-1598 a.d.) The 
Macmillan Co. 

Wakeman, H. O., The Ascendency of France. (1598-1715 a.d.) The 
Macmillan Co. 

Hassall, A., The Balance of Power. (1715-1789 a.d.) The Macmillan Co. 

Stephens, H. M., Revolutionary Europe. (1789-1815 a.d.) The Macmil- 
lan Co. 

Phillips, W. A., Modern Europe. (1815-1900 a.d.) The Macmillan Co. 

Volumes in the "Periods of European History" series. Accurate 

and full of facts. Wakeman and Phillips are really interesting reading: 

the others are more solid than brilliant. None of them treat on England. 

Hazen, CD., Europe in the Nineteenth Century. Henry Holt & Co. Very 
useful for advanced students. 

Rose, J. H., The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era. (1789-1815). Cam- 
bridge Press. Good brief account of a most important epoch. More 
interestingly written than the similar volume by Stephens in the 
" Periods of European History" series. 

Seignobos, Ch., Political History of Europe since 1814. Henry Holt & Co. 
A clear, impartial statement by a great French scholar of the forces 
which dominated Europe from 18 14 to 1899. Deals with events rather 
than persons. Gives a vast quantity of details. Good statement of 
social, economic, and ecclesiastical movements. Useful for reports and 
topics. 

Fyffe, C. A., History of Modern Europe. 3 vols.; also a one-volume edi- 
tion. Henry Holt & Co. Especially strong on the diplomatic history. 
Covers the period from 1792 to 1877. Nothing on England. 

Andrews, CM., Historical Development of Modern Europe. 2 vols, bound 
in one. G. P. Putnam's Sons. A clear and accurate account of the 
nineteenth century by a well-known American scholar. Omits England. 

Robinson and Beard, Readings in Modern European History. 2 vols. 
Ginn & Co. Skillful collection of source material (1650-1908). 

Gooch, G. P., History of Our Own Time (1885-1911). Henry Holt & Co. 
About the only available small book on very recent events. 

Histories of England 

Gardiner, S. R., Students' History of England. 3 vols., or bound in one. 
Longmans, Green & Co. An excellent, well-balanced account, in a 
moderate space, but not so full for the nineteenth century as Ransome's 
similar History. 

Bright, J. F., History of England. 5 vols. Longmans, Green & Co. Very 



APPENDIX ix 

full of facts, but with little interpretation. Better for reference than 
for steady reading. 

Greex, J. R., Short History of the English People, i vol. (Also a similar 
longer history in 4 vols.) Harper & Bros. A work of great literary 
charm, and "easy to read but hard to remember." Of more value as a 
commentary on English history after the facts have been mastered than 
as a regular history. 

Knight, Charles, History of England. 8 vols. Several editions. A 
rather old work, but readable and very useful to immature students. 
Gives a great body of enlightening facts and anecdotes. The author 
was not a great historian, but he was a careful and skillful compiler. 
Useful for reference. 

Traill, H. D., Social England. 6 vols. G. P. Putnam's Sons. A coopera- 
tive work. A mine of information about the social life of England in 
every age. Useful for reference. The illustrated edition is of extra value. 

Batesox, M., Mediaeval England. G. P. Putnam's Sons. Admirable small 
book on the life of the Middle Ages in England. 

Creightox, M., The Age of Elizabeth. Longmans, Green & Co. 

Sttjbbs, W., The Early Plantagenets . Longmans, Green & Co. 

Gairdxer, J., The Houses of Lancaster and York. Longmans, Green & Co. 

Moberly, C. E., The Early Tudor s. Longmans, Green & Co. 

Gardixer, S. R., The Stuarts and the Puritan Revolution. Longmans, 
Green & Co. 

Hale, E., The Fall of the Stuarts. Longmans, Green & Co. 

Morris, E. E., The Age of Anne. Longmans, Green & Co. 

Morris, E. E., The Early Hanoverians. Longmans, Green & Co. 

McCarthy, J., The Epoch of Reform. Longmans, Green & Co. 

These are all useful volumes in the "Epochs of History" series. Well 
adapted for inexperienced students. The Creighton, Stubbs, Gardiner, 
and Hale volumes are especially good. 

Freeicax, E. A., William the Conqueror. The Macmillan Co. 

Beesly, E. S., Elizabeth. The Macmillan Co. 

Harrisox, Frederick, Oliver Cromwell. The Macmillan Co. 

Morley, J., Walpole. The Macmillan Co. 

Morley, J., Chatham. The Macmillan Co. 

Lord Rosebery, Pitt. The Macmillan Co. 

These are among the more useful biographies in the excellent 
"Twelve English Statesmen" series. 

Morley, J., Life of Gladstone. 3 vols. The Macmillan Co. A noble 
biography of the greatest of the Victorian statesmen. A mine of 
information. 

Macatjlay, T. B., History of England. 5 or more volumes; many editions. 
Covers only the years 1683 to 1702, but gives a picture of the "English 
Revolution" which is unsurpassed. Despite much recent criticism 



x APPENDIX 

Macaulay stands high as a historian. Only Motley's Dutch Republic 
competes with it for dramatic interest. The chapters on English life 
in the seventeenth century are especially good. More useful for rapid 
reading than for reference. 

McCarthy, J., History of Our Own Times. 2 vols. Wessels. The work of 
a clever journalist rather than of a historian, but it is probably for most 
readers the best available account for the outward events of the reign 
of Victoria. 

White, A. B., The Making of the English Constitution. G. P. Putnam's 
Sons. A scholarly and up-to-date statement of the main points of 
English constitutional history up to 1485. The subject is naturally one 
only for fairly mature students. For more extended discussions one 
would go to the great works of Taswell-Langmead and Stubbs 
(3 vols.). Another good book for beginners is Creasy's Rise and 
Progress of the English Constitution. I). Appleton & Co. 

For advanced students the large cooperative histories of England edited 
by Hunt and Poole ( 1 2 vols. Longmans, Green & Co.) and Oman (6 vols. 
G. P. Putnam's Sons) have very high value.] 

Histories of Commerce 

Webster, W. C, A General History of Commerce. Ginn & Co. Covers the 
whole field from antiquity to the present time. Well told and clear. 
Includes many points on the "Industrial Revolution," "Factory Sys- 
tem," etc., not strictly under the head of " Commerce." Very useful for 
topics. 

Warner, G. T., Landmarks in English Industrial History. The Macmillan 
Co. 

Cheyney, E. P., Introduction to the Industrial and Social History of Eng- 
land. The Macmillan Co. 

Cunningham and McArthur, Outlines of English Industrial History. 
Cambridge Press. 

All of these are good and useful books of somewhat similar scope. 
Warner's is perhaps the most useful for inexperienced classes. Few 
detailed treatments exist in the English language of the commercial 
and economic histories of the Continental countries. Many topics can 
be studied by a use of Palgrave's Dictionary of Political Economy. 
3 vols. The Macmillan Co. 

Gibbins, H. de B., Industrial History of England. Charles Scribner's 
Sons. 

Gibbins, H. de B., History of Commerce in Europe. The Macmillan Co. 
Useful and accurate small books. [See Appendix 11.] 



LIST OF MAPS 

PAGE 

Balkan Wars, the 545 

Brandenburg-Prussia, 1 740-1 786 344 

British Isles, the, since 1300 290 

Charlemagne's Empire 55 

Crimean Peninsula, the 540 

Crusades, the 96 

England to 1300 no 

England, showing Industrial Changes 508 

English Lands in France to 1300 118 

Europe about 565 a.d 15 

Europe in the i6th Century, Continental {colored) between 217-18 

Europe in 171 5 {colored) fte/weew 317-18 

Europe in 1789 {colored) between 407-08 

Europe in 1810 439 

Europe aeter the Congress of Vienna, 181 5 455 

Europe beeore the Balkan Wars 543 

Europe in 1914 {colored) front linings 

Franks, the Monarchy of the 39 

Franks in the Ninth Century, the 64 

France to 1270 83 

France during the Hundred Years' War 171 

German Empire, the 496 

Germany and Italy to 1056, The Holy Roman Empire in . 73 

Germany and Italy to 1500 between 205-06 

Italy in 1798 422 

Italy since 1848 481 

Latin States in Syria 98 

Mohammedan Lands in the East, the 33 

Netherlands, the, at the Accession of Philip II 256 

Partitions of Poland, the 355 

Roman Empire, Boundaries of the, in the 4TH Century facing 1 

Roman Empire, the East, about 750 a.d 35 

Russia in 1725 337 

Trade Routes and Commercial Cities . . .149 

World, the {colored) back linings 



LIST OF PORTRAITS AND 
ILLUSTRATIONS 



Prince Bismarck . . 

Cavour 

Charles V .... 
Queen Elizabeth . . 
Gustavus Adolphus . 
Napoleon Bonaparte 
Peter the Great . . 
William the Silent . 

Architects of Empire - 

Louis XI .... 

Mettemich .... 

Mirabeau .... 

Richelieu .... 
Conquerors in Battle 

Oliver Cromwell . . 

Frederick the Great . 

Giuseppe Garibaldi . 

Horatio Nelson . . 
Famous Queens — 

Catherine de Medici . 

Isabella 



PORTRAITS 

. 494 Maria Theresa . . 

. 484 k - Victoria 

. 236 v^Great Writers — 

. 260 v' Cervantes .... 

. 306^' Dante 

. 440 tK Goethe 

. 338 \y Shakespeare .... 
. 266 £/ Leaders of Belief — 

Desiderus Erasmus . 

Ignatius de Loyola . 

Martin Luther . . 

Charles Wesley . . 
Pioneers of Science — 

Richard Arkwright . 

Charles Robert Darwin 

Isaac Newton . . . 

George Stephenson . 
Prophets of Democracy 

Karl Marx .... 

Giuseppe Mazzini 

Jean Jacques Rousseau 



396 u-- 

3<)6 

390 m 



yy 
352 
352 

352 i 



5 20</f 

520 Voltaire 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Attack and defense of a city 

(fifteenth century) . . .174 
Banquet, a (Carolingian pe- 
riod) 50 

Barricade in Paris, a (1830) . 460 
Battle between Crusaders and 

Saracens 101 

Battle of Hastings, the . .115 
Battle of Trafalgar, the . .432 
Bellman of London (161 6) . 277 



230 «* 
230 

230 
230 . 

55- 1 

55- 7 

558 

558 

558- 

558 



Benedictine, a 27 

Bishop, a (seventh century) . iq 

Byzantine patterned silk . . 36 

Cardinal Wolsey and his suite 243 
Carnival in the streets of Paris 

(i757) 383 

Castle of Frederick Barba- 

rossa, the 150 

Castle of Krak, Syria, the . . 103 

Chair (tenth century) ... 66 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



xm 



Chair (seventh century) . . 44 
Chelsea pensioners reading 

the Gazette of Waterloo . 450 
Church Council, a (fifteenth 

century) 201 

City of the Low Countries, a 

(sixteenth century) . . . 263 
Coronation of an English king 

(fourteenth century) . .185 
Costume of a gentleman 

(about 1720) 350 

Costumes of gentlemen (about 

1673) . . . . . . ..324 

Courtyard of a prison during 

the Terror 409 

Decorative metal-work . . .13 

Decorative title 208 

Dinner at court of Charles II 323 
Dwelling-house in a town of the 

fifth century 7 

Emperor, an (Otto III) . . 78 
Emperor Charles IV dining in 

state 218 

Emperor Henry IV kneeling 

before the Countess Matilda 79 
English knights and a French 

man-at-arms 168 

English nobleman, an, and his 

wife (time of James I) . .276 
English warship (time of 

Henry VIII) 247 

Enrolling volunteers in Prus- 
sia 443 

Exchequer Table 117 

Execution of Strafford . . .287 
Exposing petty offenders in 

the pillory (France, about 

1830) 459 

Facsimile extract from Magna 

Charta 121 

Facsimile of entries in Domes- 
day Book 116 

Facsimile specimen of Caxton's 
printing 191 



Farm interior (France, 1878) . 552 
Fleet of the Grand Khan, the 226 
French Dragoon, a (time of the 

Consulate) 427 

French family group (about 

1830) 463 

French infantryman, a . . .425 
French Protestant musketeer, a 268 
French Secretary of State, a 

(about 1720) 349 

General view of the Louvre 

(time of Philip Augustus) . 87 
German country house (fif- 
teenth century) . . . .220 
German peddler (sixteenth 

century) 237 

German war-chief, .... 6 
Germanic hunting-horn . . 14 

Germanic sword 10 

Globe, the (Shakespeare's 

theater) 271 

Group of Canterbury pilgrims 183 
Guillotine at work, the . . .412 
Harold swears on the relics . 114 
Hawking party ; a .... 129 
Horseman in full armor . .170 
Imperial herald (sixteenth cen- 
tury) 255 

Imperial mounted Lancer, an 

(time of Napoleon III) . . 476 
Interior of Notre Dame, Paris 

(eighteenth century) . . . 386 
Italian ecclesiastical proces- 
sion (fifteenth century) . .198 
Ivory lid of a Sacramentary . 22 
King's deathbed, a .... 89 
Labor demonstration in Paris, 

a (1848) 468 

Lendit Fair (fifteenth century) 147 
Light horseman of Cromwell's 

day, a 292 

Line of battle ship .... 368 
Lord Mayor's Show in Lon- 
don, the (about 1750) . . 363 



XIV 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Louis IX of France .... 90 
Louis XIV, surrounded by his 

Court 312 

Martin Luther burning the 
Pope's Bull of Excommuni- 
cation 234 

Merovingian manor house . 42 
Military and civil costume 

(time of Richard I) . . . 102 
Mystery Play at Coventry, a 135 
Napoleon's return to Paris 
after the Treaty of Tilsit . 435 

Norse ship 63 

Old-time election in England, 

an 373 

Palace of the Popes, at the 

Lateran, Rome 76 

Part of the coronation proces- 
sion of Edward VI ... 249 
Peasants (fourteenth century) 142 
Plundering soldier, a (period 
of Thirty Years' War) . .307 

Pope Clement IV 163 

Printing-press, a (soon after 

Gutenberg) 212 

Puritan costume 295 

Queen Elizabeth carried in 

state 258 

Romans destroying a village 

of the Germans 5 

Rome, the Eternal City 

Frontispiece 



Sack of a village 132 

Seven bishops, the, going to 

the Tower 328 

Siege of a city (fifteenth cen- 
tury) ........ 177 

Soldiers of the Imperial Guard 34 
Soldiers (time of Charles I) . 280 

Spanish camp, a 221 

Specimen of Carolingian art . 57 
Stage-coach (1804) . . . .376 
States General, the, in session 

at Versailles 304 

Statue of Jeanne d'Arc . . .176 
Stephenson's locomotive 

"Rocket" 510 

Storming a city 303 

Surrender of Paris to the al- 
lied monarchs (March 31, 

1814) 448 

Thomas a Becket disputing 

with Henry II 123 

Train in 1836 511 

Trial of Charles I. the . . . 293 
View of Berlin (1650) . . . 341 
Water-carrier (about 1830) . 551 
Watt's steam engine (1780) . 366 
Westminster Abbey (time of 

Edward the Confessor) . .113 
Wheelwrights (in the days of 

the stage-coach) .... 555 
Winnowing by flail (latter part 
of the nineteenth century) . 525 



INDEX 



References are to pages. Dates are given lor battles, also for the duration of important 
reigns, and for the entire lifetime of really important non-royal personages : n. = note. 



Abbasides, Arabian dynasty, 32-33. 

Abd-Rahman, Moslem leader (732), 45. 

Abdul-Hamid II (1876-1909), Sultan of 
Turkey, 542. 

Aboukir Bay, battle of (1798), 426. 

Acre, recaptured by Richard I (1191), 103; 
again taken by the Moslems (1291), 105. 

Act of Settlement (1701 — England), 332. 

Act of Supremacy (i534 — England), 245. 

Adrianople, battle of (378), 11; conquered 
by the Turks (1361), 223; recaptured by 
the Turks from the Bulgarians (1913). 
546 n. 

Agincourt, battle of (1415), 174. 

Agricultural class in Middle Ages, 142-144. 

Alaric, king of the Visigoths, 11; death of, 
12. 

Albania, principality of, 546 n. 

Albert. Prince, his marriage to Queen Vic- 
toria, 513. 

Alcuin, mediaeval scholar, 58. 

Alexander of Parma, general under Philip 
II, 265, 267. 

Alexander V, Pope, 199. 

Alexander VI, Pope (Borgia) (1492-1513), 
202. 

Alexander I of Russia (1803-25), 436, 444, 

454, 457- 

Alexander II of Russia (1855-81), 537-538. 

Alexander III of Russia (1881-94), 538. 

Alexander III of Scotland, 182. 

x-Uemanni, in battle against the Franks 
(496), 41. 

Alexandria (in Egypt), 2. 

Alexius, Eastern Emperor, 94, 97. 

Alfred, King of Wessex (871-901), 112. 

Alhambra, Moorish palace, 222 n. 

Alva, Duke of, Spanish general, 262-264. 

America, discovery of, 226; effect of Span- 
ish Armada on colonization of, 268; colo- 
nization of, by England, 276. 

American colonies, revolt of, 364; effect on 
England of revolt, 366. 

Amiens, Peace of (1802), 429, 431 n. 

Anabaptists, German Reform Party, 236. 

Angevin (Anjou), princes, 82 n.\ 119 n. 

Anne of Austria, French Regent, 311 n. 

Anne of England (1702-14), 332. 

Anti-Corn Law League (England), 514- 

515- 
Antioch, sieges of (1097-98), 98-99. 



Antwerp, in the 15th century, 147; sack of 
(1576), 265. 

Appeal to the German People, pamphlet by 
Luther, 234. 

Aquinas, Thomas (1226-74), mediaeval 
schoolman, 205. 

Arabs, before the time of Mohammed, 29; 
conquests of (632-732), 32-33; learning 
of, 35-3.6. 

Aragon, kingdom of, 222. 

Arcadius, Eastern Emperor (395-408), II. 

Archbishop, office of, defined, 21. 

Architecture, Gothic, 138; Renaissance, 
211. 

Arian belief, 7 n.\ heresy, 18. 

Arians, German, 41. 

Arkwright, inventor, 366. 

Armada, Spanish (1588), 266-268. 

Armagnacs, French faction, 173, 174, 175. 

Arthur, Celtic king, 109 n. 

Aspern, battle of (1809), 442. 

Asquith, Prime Minister of England, 535. 

Assignats, French revolutionary currency, 
410. 

Athaulf, King of the Visigoths, 12. 

Attainder, definition of the Act of, 246 n.; 
Bill of, 288 n. 

Attila (406-453), invades Gaul (451), 14; 
148. 

Augsburg, Confession of (1530), 237; reli- 
gious peace of (1555), 237-238. 

Augustenburg, Duke of, claimant to ducal 
throne of Holstein (1864), 494, 495. 

Augustine, missionary to England (c. 597), 
in. 

Austerlitz, battle of (1805), 433. 

Australia, settlement of, 370. 

Austrasia (East Frankland, changing into 
"Germany"), 64. 

Austria, founded by Rudolf of Hapsburg, 
217; condition at close of Thirty Years' 
War, 311; under Maria Theresa (1740- 
80), 350-351 ; under Joseph II (1780-90), 
354-355; its part in division of Poland, 
357; attitude toward French Revolution, 
403; war declared against, by France 
(1792), 404; war with France (1792-95), 
407-408; in Italian campaign (1796-97), 
422, 423; treaty with France (1797), 423- 
424; war with France, 428, 429, 433, 442; 
Congress of Vienna (181 5), 454-455, 456; 



XVI 



INDEX 



Holy Alliance (1815), 457; constituent 
assembly (1848), 459; its part in Italian 
Revolution (1848), 471-472; war of 1859, 
484-489; position in German federation 
after 1848, 491-492; in the Danish War, 
494-499; war with Prussia (1866), 495- 
497.- 

Austria-Hungary, revolution in, 470-471; 
since 1866, 531-532. 

Austrian Successsion, War of (1740-48), 
353- 

Avars, wars of Charlemagne against, 53. 

Avignon, residence of Papal Court at, dur- 
ing the Babylonish Captivity, 196-197; 
Urban VI's refusal to return to, 198. 

Babington's Conspiracy (against Queen 
Elizabeth), 266. 

Babylonish Captivity (1305-78), 196-197. 

Babylonish Captivity of the Church, pam- 
phlet by Luther, 234. 

Bacon, Lord, Royal Chancellor of Eng- 
land, 277. 

Bagdad, Arabian capital under the Abba- 
sides, 33. 

"Balance of Power" in the 18th century, 

358-359- 
Baldwin, Count of Flanders, in Fourth 

Crusade, 104. 
Balfour, Prime Minister of England, 534 n. 
Baliol, claimant to Scottish throne, 182. 
Balkan War (1912-13), 544-546. 
Banking, in the Middle Ages, 150 ft. 
Bannockburn, battle of (1314), 182. 
Barry, Madame du, mistress of Louis XV, 

350. 
Basil, Council of (1431), 200-201; Peace 

of (1795), 408. 
Bastille, fall of (July 14, 1789), 396-397. 
Bavaria, absorbed by Charlemagne, 53; 

mediaeval German duchy, 71. 74. 
Bazaine, French general (1870), 503, 504. 
Beaconsfield, Lord, 518, 541. See Disraeli. 
Becket, Thomas a, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, 119 n. 
Bede (d. 735), Anglo-Saxon churchman, 

in. 
Bedford, Duke of, regent under Henry VI 

of England, 175. 
Belgium, revolt of (1789), 355; struggle 

over (1792-95), 407, 408; revolt against 

Holland (1830), 458. 
Benedict, St., of Nursia, 26. 
Benedict XIII, "Avignon," Pope, 199 n. 
Benedictine Rule (monastic), 25. 
Benedek, Austrian general, 497. 
Berlin, Congress of (1878), 518-519, 532, 

541; decree of (1806-07), 44 1 - 
Berlin, UJniversity of, 443. 
Bernard of Cluny, mediaeval hymnologist, 

205 n. 
Bernard, St., of Clairvaux. 102, 158-159. 



Bible, Wicliffs English translation, 184; 
translated by Luther, 235-236; official 
English translation (1539), 247; pub- 
lished by Tyndale (1525), 247 n.; King 
James version, 275 n. 

Billung, Markgraf Hermann, 75. 

Bishop, position of in 7th century, 19, 21; 
as a feudal prince, 67. 

Bishops, trial of the seven (1688), 327-329. 

Bismarck, Otto von (1815-98), 493-505; 
528; 532. 

Black Death (1348), effect of on Hundred 
Years' War, 172; in England, 185-186, 
187. 

Black Prince, in Hundred Years' War, 172, 
173- 

Blanc, Louis, French socialist, 467. 

Blenheim, battle of (1704), 318. 

Blood Council, 262. 

Bloody Assizes, 326-327. 

Blucher, Prussian general (1815), 451. 

Boccaccio (1313-75), Renaissance author, 
208-209. 

Boer War (1 899-1902), 534-535- 

Bohemia, revolt in behalf of Hus, 200; re- 
volt against Austria (1618), 300. 

Bohemond of Tarentum, leader in the First 
Crusade, 07, 99. 

Boleyn, Anne, wife of Henry VIII, 243 n., 
244, 245. 

Bologna, University of, 204. 

Bonaparte, Carlo, father of Napoleon, 
420 n. 

Bonaparte, Jerome, brother of Napoleon, 
438. 

Bonaparte, Napoleon. See Napoleon. 

Boniface VIII (1294-1303), his conflict 
with Philip IV 7 of France, 195-196. 

Boniface, St., missionary to Germans, 46. 

Bonner, Bishop (England), 252 n. 

Book of Common Prayer (English), 250; 
reestablished, 259. 

Borgia, Caesar, Italian general, 211. 

Borgia, Pope Alexander IV, 202. 

Borodina, battle of (181 2), 445. 

Both well, Earl of, Scottish nobleman, 260. 

Boulanger, General (France), 526. 

Bourgeoisie, French middle class, 382-383, 
389. 

Bouvines, battle of (1214), 89. 

Boyne, battle of the (1690), 330. 

Brandenburg, Electorate of, 340-343- 

Breitenfeld, battle of (1631), 304. 

Bretigny, Treaty of (1360), 172. 

Bright, John, English statesman, 515. 

Britain, under the Romans, 108. See Eng- 
land. 

Bruce, Robert (lived 1274-1329), claimant 
to Scottish throne, 182. 

Bruges, in the 15th century, 147. 

Brunswick, Duke of, Prussian general, 
407. 



INDEX 



xvu 



Buckingham, Duke of, favorite of James I, 
278. 

Bulgaria, conquest by Turks, 223, 224; new- 
principality of (1S78). 541-542; war with 
Servia (1SS5), 542; PJalkan War (1912- 
13), 544-546. 

Bull, papal, definition of, 195 «.; against 
Philip IV of France, 195 ; against Luther, 

234- 
Bundesrath, German Federal Council, 498. 
Burghers, mediaeval towns-folk, 145. 
Burgundians, settlement of, in Roman 

Empire, 13. 
Burgundy, Dukes of, in time of Hundred 

Years' War, 175; Charles the Bold, Duke 

of, 216. 

Cabinet government (England), 333; rise 

of, 371-374- 
Cabot, John, navigator, 190. 
Cajetamus, Cardinal, Luther summoned 

before, 232-233. 
Calais, taken by the English (1347), 171; 

captured by the French (1558), 252. 
Calendar, French republican, 413-414. 
Caliphate, the (717-900), 35-36. 
Calixtines, Hussite faction, 200 n. 
Calvin, John, religious reformer, 239-240. 
Camperdowm, battle of (1797), 4 2 4- 
Campo Formio, Treaty of (1797), 423-424. 
Canossa, Henry IV's humiliation at, 156- 

157- 
Cape Colony taken possession of by Eng- 
land, 370. 
Cape St. Vincent, battle off (1797), 424. 
Capet, Hugh, King of France (987-996), 

83, 84. 
Capetian monarchy, founding of, 82-83. 
Capitation (French tax), 384. 
Carbonari (Italian secret society), 462 n., 

483- 
Carnot, French War Minister (1792-95), 

408. 
Carthage, city of, 2. 
Cartwright, inventor, 367. 
Castile, kingdom of, 222. 
Cathedrals, Romanesque, 138; Gothic, 

138-139. 
Catherine de Medici, Queen of France, 268, 

269. 
Catherine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII, 

243-244. 
Catherine II of Russia (1762-96), 339-340; 

her part in division of Poland, 356. 
Catholic Christians, definition of, 18 n. 
Catholic Emancipation Act (England, 

1829), 375-376. # 
Catholic reaction in England under Mary, 

250-252. 
Catholics in England, attitude of Charles 

II toward, 324. 
Cavaignac, General (France), 473. 



Cavaliers (English royalists), 291 n. 

Cavour, Count of, Italian statesman, 482- 
488. _ 

Cecil, Sir William, English statesman, 257. 

Celts, in England, 109. 

Cimabue, Italian painter, 211. 

Cities, of Italy during Renaissance period, 
206; free of mediaeval Germany, 219 
See Towns. 

City Hall, mediaeval, 146. 

Chalons, battle of, (451), 14. 

Chamberlain, Joseph, his responsibility for 
Boer War, 534 n. 

Chanson de Roland, mediaeval epic, 54. 

Charlemagne (768-814), his personality, 
49-51; his Saxon wars, 51-52; war 
against the Lombards, 52-53; war 
against the Slavs and Avars, 53 ; invasion 
of Spain, 54; coronation of, 56-57; ad- 
ministration under, 57-58; revival of 
learning under, 58-59; his empire dis- 
solved, 61-62. 

Charles I of England (1625-49), 276-277, 
278-283,285-294; execution of (1649), 294. 

Charles II of England (1660-85), 2 94, 2 96, 
322-325. 

Charles V of France (1364-80), 172-173. 

Charles VI of France (1380-1422), 173, 

175- 

Charles VPI of France (1422-61), 175; 
crowned at Rheims, 177; 179. 

Charles VIII of France (1483-98), 217. 

Charles IX of France, 268. 

Charles X of France (1824-30), 396 n., 
459-461. 

Charles IV, Emperor, 218. 

Charles V, Emperor (1519-56), position in 
regard to Luther, 235 ; and German Pro- 
testants, 237-238; his relation to breach 
between Henry VIII and Roman Church, 
244; abdicated his power, 255. 

Charles VI, Emperor, 350. 

Charles II of Spain, 317. 

Charles XI of Sweden, 343 n. 

Charles XII of Sweden, 338-339- 

Charles Albert, of Sardinia, 471. 

Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, 
332 n. . 

Charles the Bald, Frankish king, 62, 64; 
division of land, 65. 

Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, 216. 

Charles the Fat, Frankish emperor, 82. 

Charles Martel, mayor of the palace (714- 

74i), 44- 

Charles the Simple, King of France, his 
treaty with Rollo, 63 . 

Chartist movement (England), 512. 

Chaucer, Geoffrey, English poet, 183. 

Christian IV, of Denmark, 301. 

Christianity, in the Roman Empire, 2; its 
spread among the Germans, 54; its adop- 
tion by the Anglo-Saxons, 11 1. 



xvm 



INDEX 



Christina, Queen of Sweden, 306 n. 

Chrysoloras, famous Greek teacher, 210. 

Church, early, sources of its wealth, 19-20; 
organization of, 20-23; under the 
Franks, 43; relation to feudalism, 67; re- 
lation to State (1046), 79-80; relations 
with Capetian kings, 85; life in (900- 
1250), 135-137; its schools during the 
Middle Ages, 137; relation of early Uni- 
versities to doctrine of, 204-205; condi- 
tion in 16th century, 229; of Russia, 336; 
English, under the Georges, 362; in 
France on eve of Revolution, 385; legis- 
lation by National Assembly (France), 
401; Separation law (France, 1900), 527. 

Clairvaux, St. Bernard of, 158-159. 

Clarendon Code (1661-65), 324. 

Classes of people in the Middle Ages, 127. 

Clement V, Pope, 197. 

Clement VII, Pope, 198. 

Clergy, definition of, 20; secular and regu- 
lar, 136. 

Clermont, Church Council at (1095), 95. 

Cleves, Anne of, wife of Henry VIII, 243 ;;. 

Clive, Robert, English general, 369. 

Clovis, King of the Franks, 40-41 ; succes- 
sors of, 43. 

Cluny, monastery of, 80; reform move- 
ment of, 153-154; Bernard of, 205 n. 

Cnut, Ring of England (1017-35), 112-113. 

Coalition against France, first . 407; second, 
427; third, 431, 434; of 1813, 447-448. 

Cobden, English statesman, 515. 

('ode Napoleon, 440. 

Colbert, financial minister of Louis XIV, 

314- 

Coligny, leader of the Huguenots, 269. 

Coloni, Roman serfs, description of, 4. 

Columbus, Christopher, 222, 226. 

Comitatus, German war band, 6. 

Commerce, during Middle Ages, 127 ;;.; re- 
vival in later Middle Ages, 149-150. 

Committee of Public Safety, French Revo- 
lution, 408-409; 414. 

Common law of England, origin of, 122- 

I2 4- 
Commune, mediaeval, 145; of Paris, 405; in 

1871, 505 «., 524. 
Compass, invention of, 212. 
Compurgation, 123 n. 
Conclave of cardinals, 197. 
Concordat of Napoleon (1808), 440. 
Conde, French general, 316. 
Condottieri, 211. 
Congress of Paris (1856), 483. 
Conrad II of Germany, 78. 
Conradin, grandson of Frederick II, 163. 
Conservative party in England, 374, 534, 

535- 
Constance, Council of (1414-18), 199-200; 

relation of University of Paris to, 204. 
Constantine, Roman Emperor, 2. 



Constantine XII, last Emperor of Constan- 
tinople, 223. 

Constantinople, founding of, 2 ; civilization 
of, 37; patriarch of, 55; attacked by Rus- 
sians (865), 335; seizure by Crusaders 
(1204), 104; taken by the Turks, 210; 
fall of (1453), 223-224. 

Constitution of France, first (1791), 399- 
401, 402, 406; second (never enforced), 
416; third (1795)7 416-417; of 1848, 468; 
of 1875, 525-526. 

Continental System, 441. 

Controller-General of France, 381. 

Convention, legislative body of France, 
406, 407, 413-414, 416, 417. 

Convocation (Church) in England, 245. 

Cook, Captain, explorer, 370. 

Corn laws (English), repeal of, 514-515. 

Corvee (forced labor in France), 384. 

Cotton-gin, invention of, 367. 

Council, church, description of, 21-23; 
royal, in France, 380. 

Coup d'Etat (1851), 475-476. 

Covenant, Scottish, 283. 

Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 244- 
245, 247, 250; death of, 251. 

Creey, battle of (1346), 170-171. 

Crimean War (1854-56), 477, 483, 540. 

Cromwell, Oliver, 291-296. 

Cromwell, Richard, son of Oliver, 296. 

Cromwell, Thomas, minister of Henry 
VI 11. 244, 246. 

Crusades, origin of, 93-94; leaders of, 95- 
97; general description of, 97; Second, 
102; Second set in motion by St. Bernard 
of Clairvaux, 159; Third, 103-104; Philip 
Augustus in, 88; fourth, 104; later, 104- 
105; results of, 105-106. 

Custozza, battle of (1848), 471; second bat- 
tle of (1866), 488. 

I Damascus, capital of Arabian Empire (661- 

750), 32. 
Danes in Ireland, 192. 
Danish War (1864), 494. 
Dante (1265 -1321 ), Italian poet, 207. 
Danton, French statesman, 405, 406; fall 

of, 413, 414. 
Darnley, Lord, husband of Mary, Queen of 

Scots, 260. 
Deacon, definition of, 20. 
Decameron, by Boccaccio, 208. 
Declaration of Rights (England, 1689), 330. 
De Lesseps, promoter of Suez Canal, 518 

n.\ of Panama Canal, 526. 
Denmark, in the Congress of Vienna (1815), 

456; at war with Austria and Prussia 

(1864), 494. 
Derby, Lord, English statesman, 517. 
Desiderius, King of the Lombards, 52-53. 
Desmoulins, Camille, French Revolution- 
ist, 397- 



INDEX 



xix 



Diet, German Imperial, in 1500, 219; of 
German Confederacy in 1815, 456. 

Diocese, definition of, 21. 

Directory, French, 417, 423, 424, 425, 427. 

Dispensations by Pope, 197 n. 

Disraeli, 517, 518, Prime Minister of Eng- 
land (1874-80), 518-519. See Beacons- 
field, Lord. 

Divine Comedy, by Dante, 207. 

Divine right of kings, with James I, 274; 
with Louis XIV, 312-313. 

Domesday Book of William the Conqueror, 
116-117. 

Dominic, St., founder of Friar order, (1170- 

. 1221), 165-166. 

Dominican Order of Friars, 165-166; 229. 

Donatello (13 86-1466), Italian sculptor, 
211. 

Donjon of mediaeval castle, 128. 

Dorylasum, battle of (1097), 98. 

Dragonnades, against Huguenots, 315. 

Drake, Sir Francis, English seaman, 267. 

Dreyfus, Captain, the case of (1899), 526- 
527- 

Duguesclin, Bertrand, general under 
Charles V of France, 173. 

Dunbar, battle of (1650), 294. 

Dupleix, French general, 369. 

Diirer (d. 1528), German artist, 213. 

Dutch commerce, 270, 365. 

Dutch Republic. See Netherlands. 

Eastern Empire, repulsed the Saracens 

(7 1 ?)* 33 _ 35! authority in Italy before 

800, 55. See Crusades, and Greece. 
Eck, his disputation with Luther, 233. 
Edessa, regained by Moslems (1144), 102. 
Edict of Restitution (Germany, 1629), 301- 

302. 
Education, general, spread of, 555-556. 
Edward I of England (1272-1307), 122; his 

subjection of Wales, 181; in Scotland, 

182. 
Edward II (1307-27) and Scotland, 182. 
Edward III (1327-77), his claim to crown 

of France, 169; invasion of France, 170; 

his reign, 185-186. 
Edward IV (1461-83), 188. 
Edward V (1483), 188. 
Edward VI (1547-53), 248-249. 
Edward VII (1901-09), 534. 
Edward the Confessor, King of England 

(1042-66), 113, 114; laws of, 118. 
Edward, King of Wessex (901-25), 112. 
Edwin of Northumbria, in. 
Egmont, Count of, Netherland nobleman, 

262. 
Egypt, British military occupation of 

(1882), 519. 
Egyptian Expedition (French, 1798-99), 

425-427. 
Eighteenth century, character of, 348. 



Einhard, biographer of Charlemagne, 49 n. 

Elba, Napoleon at, 449. 

Electorate in England before 1832, 376, 

508-509. 
Electors of mediaeval German Emperor, 

218; and eighth created, 307. 
Eliot, Sir John, English statesman, 280. 
Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, 353. 
Elizabeth, Queen of England (1558-1603), 

252, 257-260; war with Spain, 266-268; 

execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, 266. 
Elizabethan Settlement of English Church, 

259- 
Emigrants, of the French Revolution, 410, 

459- 

England, origin of, 108-125; in later Mid- 
dle Ages, 181-193; religious revolt in, 
242-253; under Elizabeth, 257-260, 266- 
268, 270-271; under the early Stuarts, 
274-283; Civil War and Cromwell, 285- 
297; in wars of Louis XIV, 316; under 
the later Stuarts, 322-333; in Seven 
Years' War, 353 ; under the Georges, 361- 
376; industry and commerce of, 365-367; 
colonial empire of, 370-371, 521-522; 
war with France (1792-95), 407-408; 
(1805), 431-433; 440-441; naval power, 
424-427; Holy Alliance (1815) 457 n., 
458; in 19th century, 507-522; 20th-cen- 
tury problems of, 536-537. 

English Pale, in Ireland, 192. 

Entente cordiale, 534. 

Erasmus (d. 1536), scholar, 214. 

Essex, Earl of, general in the Great Civil 
War (England), 291. 

Estates in France, local representatives, 
380. 

Ethelbert, King of Kent, his conversion to 
Christianity (597), in. 

Ethelred the Unready, 112. 

Eugenius IV, Pope, 201. 

Exchequer, 118; Chancellor of, 118 n.; 
Court of, 281. 

Excommunication, results to individual, 21. 

Expectatives, 197 n. 

Falkirk, battle of (1298), 182. 

Fawkes, Guy, Gunpowder Plot conspira- 
tor, 275. 

Fehrbellin, battle of (1675), 343. 

Fenian Movement (Irish), 520. 

Ferdinand I, Emperor, 255. 

Ferdinand II, Emperor, 300, 301; in 
Thirty Years' War, 302. 

Ferdinand III (1637-57), Emperor, 306. 

Ferdinand, King of Naples, 480-481. 

Ferdinand of Aragon, 222. 

Ferrara, city-state of, 206 n. 

Feudal castle, description of, 127-128; life 
in, 128-130. 

Feudalism, origin of, 65 ; description of, 66- 
69; effect of crusades on, 105; in Eng- 



XX 



INDEX 



land, 116; definition of terms, 128-131; 
wars of, 131-133; living conditions un- 
der, 133-135; effect of the invention of 
gunpowder upon, 224-225. 

Fichte, German philosopher, 444. 

Fief, feudal holding, 67, 69 n. 

Flanders, cities of, 147; Counts of, 147. 

Florence, city-state of, 148-149; commerce 
of, 206; republic of, 471, 472. 

Fontenay, battle of (841), 62. 

Fox, Charles James, English orator, 372 n. 

France, rise of, 82-91; state of, at end of 
Middle Ages, 216-217; under Henry IV, 
268-270; in Thirty Years' War, 305-306; 
in Treaty of Westphalia, 307; condition 
at close of Thirty Years' War, 310-311; 
under Louis XIV, 311-320; under Louis 
XV, 349-35o; in Seven Years" War, 353; 
under Louis XIV, 357-358; in India, 369; 
Revolution, causes of, 378-390; period 
of, 391-418; in war with all Europe 
(1792-95), 407-408; under Napoleon, 
427-428, 430-431; extent of Empire 
(1808), 438-439; under the Bourbons 
(1815-30), 451-461 ; under Louis Philippe 
(1830-48), 463-464; Second Republic 
(1848-51), 467-468, 472-473; war of 1859, 
484-489; Second Empire (1852-70), 476- 
478; end of, 503; Third Republic, 503; 
since 1871, 524-527; constitutions of, 
first (1791), 399-401, 402, 406; second, 
416; third (1795), 416-417; fourth, 428; 
of 1875, 525-526. 

Francis 1 of Austria, 446. 

Francis I of France (1515-47), 217. 

Francis II of France, 260, 268. 

Francis II of Naples, 487. 

Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, 485, 
53 1 7532. 

Francis of Lorraine, 351. 

Francis, St., of Assisi, 164-165. 

Franciscan Order of Friars, 164-165, 229. 

Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), 500-505. 

Franconia, German mediaeval duchy, 71, 74. 

Frankfort, Treaty of (1871), 504-505. 

Frankland, extension of its borders, 46. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 378. 

Franks, Germanic race, 5; settlement of, 13; 
the Merovingian, 40; relations with the 
Romans, 43. 

Frederick I (Barbarossa, 1152-90), 103, 
159-160; estimation of, 160 n. 

Frederick II (1212-50), 161-163. 

Frederick I, King in Prussia (1688-1713), 

343-344- 

Frederick II (1740-86) 251; war with Aus- 
tria, 352-354; division of Poland, 356; 
fondness for French language, 379 n. 

Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate, 300, 
301. 

Frederick of Saxony, protector of Luther, 
235- 



Frederick William (1640-88), 342-343. 
Frederick William I (1713-40), 344-346. 
Frederick William II (1786-97), 403. 
Frederick William III (1797-1840), 434, 

436,443,461. 
Frederick William IV (1840-61), 469, 470, 

492, 493- 
Free press, 556-557- 
Friedland, battle of (1807), 436. 
Froude, wars of the (France), 311 n. 

Gaillard, Chateau, capture of (1204), 89. 

Galileo (1564-1642), Italian scientist, 378. 

Gambetta, leader of National Defense 
Government (France), 504, 527 n. 

Gardiner, Bishop, minister of Queen Mary 
of England, 252 n. 

Garibaldi (Italian patriot,) 472, 486-489. 

Genoa, city-state of, 149 «.; mediaeval 
trade of, 101. 

George I of England (1714-27), 33^-333, 
362-364. 

George II (1727-60), 364. 

George III (1760-1820), 364-365, 370. 

George IV (1820-30), 365, 507. 

Georgian Epoch, 362-376. 

German Customs Union (1833), 462. 

German Empire, mediaeval, 217-221; in 
1871, 505- 

German kingdom, settlement of, 13. 

German National Assembly (1848), 469. 

German tribes, enumeration of, 4-5; de- 
scription of, 5-6; political organization 
of, 6; religion of, 7; conversion to Chris- 
tianity, 46-47. 

Germany, origin of the kingdom of, 71-80; 
condition of the Empire at the end of the 
Middle Ages, 217-221; protectant revolt 
in, 229-238; Thirty Years' War, 299-308; 
growth of Prussia, 340-346, 35i~354; 
humiliation of Prussia, 434-436; Con- 
gress of Vienna, 456; situation in (1815- 
30), 461-462; revolution in (1848), 468- 
470; 1848 to 1871, 491-505; since 1871, 
528-531. 

Ghent, in 15th century, 147. 

Girondist party during French Revolu- 
tion, 403, 406, 410, 411, 412, 416. 

Gladstone, Prime Minister, first adminis- 
tration, 517-518; second administration, 
519-521; third administration, 521. 

Godfrey of Bouillon, leader of First Cru- 
sade, 95-96; King of Jerusalem, 100. 

Golden Bull, by Charles IV of Germany, 
218. 

Gothic cathedrals, 138-139. 

Gothic kingdom in Spain, 12. 

Goths, treaty with Theodosius, II. 

Graeco-Roman civilization, 4. 

Gramont, French Foreign Minister (1870), 
501. 

Grand Remonstrance (England, 1641). 289. 



INDEX 



xxi 



Gravelotte, battle of (1870), 503. 

Great Britain, colonial empire of, 521-522. 

Great Charter (Magna Charta), 120-121. 

Greece, conquered by Turks, 224; revolt 
against Turks (1821), 458, 540; since 
1878, 541, 542; Balkan War, 544-546. 

Greek fire, 34 n. 

Gregory the Great, Pope (590-604), posi- 
tion of the Papacy under him, 23-24, 
III. 

Gregory VII, Pope (1073-85), his humilia- 
tion of Henry IV, 156-158. See also 
Hildebrand. 

Gregory XI, Pope, 197. 

Gregory XII, Pope, 199 n. 

Grey, Lady Jane (England), 250, 251. 

Grey, Lord, Prime Minister of England, 
5io, 511. 

Guilds, mediaeval, 146; (18th century;, 
French, 383 n. 

Guillotine, what it was, 412 n. 

Guise, Dukes of, 268. 

Guizot, Prime Minister of France (1840- 
48,) 464, 466. 

Gunpowder, military revolution caused by 
invention of, 224-225. 

Gunpowder Plot (England, 1605), 274-275. 

Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden (1611-32), 
302-305. 

Gutenberg, John, inventor of printing, 213. 

Gu\-, King of Jerusalem, 102. 

Haarlem, siege of (1572), 264. 

Habeas Corpus Act (1679), 325. 

Hague Peace Tribunal, 546-547. 

Hampden, John, English statesman, 281 n.; 
286, 289 11. 

Hapsburg dynasty, beginning of, 217. 

Hargreaves, inventor, 366. 

Harold, King of England (1066), 114, 
115. 

Haroun-al-Raschid (Arabian Kalif, 763- 
809), 35. 

Hastings, battle of (1066), 115. 

Hegira (flight of Mohammed, 622), 30. 

Henry I of England (1100-35), 117-118. 

Henry II (1154-89), 119; growth of the 
judiciary under, 122-124; his French 
holdings, 87, 88, 89; "Angevin Prince," 
88 n.; invasion of Ireland, 192. 

Henry III (1216-72), 121-122. 

Henry IV (1339-1413), 187. 

Henry V (1413-22), 173-174, *75, 187. 

Henry VI (1422-61), 175, 187, 188. 

Henry VII (1489-1509), 189-90. 

Henry VIII (1509-47), 242-245; the Eng- 
lish Church under, 246-248. 

Henry III of France (1 575-1589), 268. 

Henry IV (1589-1610), 269-271. 

Henry the Fowler, King of Germany (919- 
36), 71, 72-75- 

Henry II (1002-24), 78. 



Henry III (1039-56), Emperor, 79-80, his 
domination over the Papacy, 153. 

Henry IV (1056-1106), 80; his rule of Ger- 
many, 155-156; his struggle with Greg- 
ory VII, 156-158. 

Henry V (1106-25), Emperor, his treaty 
with the Pope, 158. 

Henry VI (1190-1197), marriage of, 160. 

Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Ba- 
varia (1129-95), 160. 

Heptarchy, Saxon kingdoms, 109 n. 

High Commisson, Court of (England), 
282, 288. 

Hildebrand, his early life, 54-55. See also 
Gregory VII. 

Hohenlinden, battle of (1800), 428. 

Hohenstaufens, German dynasty, 159; last 
of, 163. 

Hohenzollern dynasty (Prussia), 340. 

Holbein (d. 1543), German artist, 213. 

Holland, cities of, 147; wars of Louis XIV 
against, 31 5-3*7- 

Hollis, Denzill, English politician, 286. 
i Holy Alliance (1815), 457-458. 

Holy Lance, at siege of Antioch, 99, 99 n. 

Holy Roman Empire, founding of, by 
Charlemagne, 57; revival by Otto I, 75- 
78; at end of Middle Ages, 217-218; de- 
stroyed by Napoleon, 429-430. 

Homage (feudal), 68, 130, 131. 
! Home Rule for Ireland, 519-521, 535. 

Honorius, Emperor of the West (395-423), 

11. 
I Howard, Catherine, wife of Henry VIII, 
243 n. 

Huguenots, Protestants in France, 268, 
310 n., 311; persecution of, 314-315; 
settlement in Brandenburg, 343. 
I Humbert I of Italy (1878-1900), 531. 

Humboldt, German statesman and scholar, 

! 443- 
Hundred Years' W ar (1346-1453), 168-179. 
I Hungarians. See Magyars. 
Huns, their advance westward, 10; inva- 
sion of Gaul (451), 14. 
Hus, John (Bohemian reformer), 199-200. 
Hussites, church of, 200; Luther's sym- 
pathy with, 233. 

Immunity (feudal), 66 n. 

Intendants, in France, 380. 

Incivism, meaning of, during Reign of 

Terror, 411. 
Enclosures, in England, 252-253. 
Independents,Puritan party inEngland, 292. 
India, won by England, 369-370. 
Indulgences (Church), sale of, 231. 
Industrial Revolution, in England, 509; 

on the Continent, 552-554. 
Industry and commerce, revival of, in later 

Middle Ages, 150-151; growth of, in 

England, 365-367- 



XX11 



INDEX 



Innocent III, Pope (1198-1216), 120, 160- 
161; his attitude toward the Franciscan 
Order, 165. 

Inquisition, Spanish, 261-262; its effect on 
Spain, 271. 

Institutes of the Christian Religion, by Cal- 
vin, 239. 

Inventions at close of Middle Ages, 378. 

Investiture (Church), struggle over, 156- 
158. 

Ireland, attempted conquest by England, 
191-193; union with Great Britain 
(1800), 376; Home Rule for, 519-521, 535. 

Irene, -Empress of the Eastern Empire 
(780-802), 56. 

Ironsides, Cromwell's, 291. 

Isabella of Castile (1469-1504), 222. 

Islam(Mohammedanism), doctrines of, 30- 
32; threatens Gaul (721), 45. 

Italy, end of German domination in, 163; 
attempts of French kings to conquer, 217; 
Napoleon's campaign in (1796-97), 421- 
423; how treated at Congress of Vienna, 
(1815), 456; situation in (1815-48), 462- 
463; revolution in (1848), 471-472; after 
1848, 480-489; Prussian alliance with, 
495, 496; since 1870, 531. 

Itinerant Justices (England), 118, 123. 

Ivan IV of Russia (1534-84), 336. 

Ivry, battle of (1590), 270. 

Jacobins (French Revolutionary party), 
404, 405 n., 406, 409, 410, 411, 412; re- 
volts against, 412-413; heirs of the old 
(1830), 460. 

Jacobites (party for exiled English Stuarts), 
332 »., 374 n. 

James I of England (1603-25), 260, 274- 
278. 

James II (1685-88), 325-329; attempts to 
regain throne, 330; death of (1701), 
331- 

James III, the "Old Pretender," 332 n. 

Janizaries (Turkish bodyguard), 224 »., 
317- 

Japan, war with Russia (1904-05), 537 »., 
538. 

Jeanne d' Arc (French heroine, active ca- 
reer, 1429-31), 176-178. 

Jeffreys, Lord, English judge, 327. 

Jena, battle of (1806), 434. 

Jerusalem, taken by the crusaders (1099), 
99-100; Christian Kingdom of, 100-102; 
taken by Saladin (1187), 102. 

Jesuits, founding of the Order of, 240. 

John, King of England (1109-1216), 88, 89, 
119. 

John, King of France (1350-64), 172. 

John XII, Pope (955-64), 75~76; deposed 
by Otto I, 77. 

John XXIII, Pope (1410-15), 199. 

John George, Elector of Saxony, 304. 



Joseph II of Austria (actual rule, 1780-90), 

354-355- 
Josephine, wife of Napoleon, 446 n. 
July Ordinances (France), 460. 
Jury, growth of, in England, 124. 
Justinian, Emperor (527-565), his recovery 

of the Western provinces, 16. 

Kara Mustapha,Turkish vizier, 317. 

Karlman, son of Charles Martel, 46. 

Kerbogha, Emir of Mossul, 99. 

King's Peace in England, 117. 

Kirk-Kilisseh, battle of (1912), 544. 

Knight, life of mediaeval, 102. 

Knights of theHospital, 102; of the Temple, 

102. 
Knox, John, Scotch reformer, 260. 
Koniggratz, battle of (1866), 497, 499. 
Koran, Mohammedan bible, 31. 
Kosciuszko, Polish general, 357. 
Kossuth, Hungarian leader, 470. 

La Hogue, battle of (1692), 316. 
La Vendee (France), revolt of, 413. 
Laborers, Statute of (England), 186. 
Lafayette, French general (1757-1834), 

393 n., 398, 402. 
Laity, as defined in the Middle Ages, 20. 
Langside (Scotland), battle of (1568), 261. 
Laon, Kings of (France), 82-83. 
Latimer, Bishop (England), 251. 
Laud, William (1573-1645), Archbishop 

of Canterbury, 281, 282, 288. 
Lavoisier (1743-194), French scientist, 378. 
League, the, clerical faction opposed to 

Henry IV of France, 269-270. 
Lebceuf, French Marshal (1870), 502. 
Lech, battle of (955), 75; Passage of (1632), 

305. 
Legislative Assembly of France (1791), 403. 
Legitimacy, supported by Metternich, 454, 

458, 461, 550. 
Legnano, battle of (1176), 160. 
Leicester, Earl of, English general, 259 n. 
Leipzig, battle of (1813), 447. 
Leo III, Pope, 56. 
Leo VIII, Pope, 77. 
Leo IX, Pope, 80. 
Leo X, Pope, 229; his early attitude toward 

Luther, 232. 
Leo the Isaurain, Eastern Emperor (716- 

4i), 34- 
Leopold, Duke of Austria, 88 n. 
Leopold II of Austria, Emperor (1790-92), 

401,403. 
Leopold I of Belgium (1831-65), 458. 
Leuthen, battle of (1757), 354 «• 
Leyden, siege of (1574), 264-265. 
Liberal party in England, 374, 515, 517, 

5i8, 519. 535- 
Ligny, battle of (1815), 451. 
Little Englanders, 517-518. 



INDEX 



xxin 



Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, 1S1. 

Lloyd-George, English statesman, measures 
introduced by, 535-536. 

Lodi, battle of (.1796), 423. 

Lollards, English followers of Wiclif, 184- 
185- 

Lombard, League, the. 160 n. 

Lombards, invasion of Italy by (568), 16; 
downfall of, 52-53. 

Lombardy, city-republics of, 160; revolt 
against Frederick II, 162 

Longbow, English, 169; use of, 225 n. 

Lorraine, origin of, 71, 74. 

Lothaire, (nominally Emperor 840-870), 
62; shares division of land, 65. 

Louis VI (the Fat), of France (1108-37), 86. 

Louis VII (1137-80), 86. 

Louis IX (St. Louis) (1226-70), 89-91, 105. 

Louis XI (1461-83), 216. 

Louis XII (1498-1515), 217. 

Louis XIV (1643-1715), 311-320; his pen- 
sion to Charles II of England, 322. 

Louis XV (1715-74), 319-320; 349-350. 

Louis XVI (1774-92), 357-358; summon- 
ing of States General, 391, 393, 395; 396, 
397, 398-399, 401-402, 405; death of, 
406-407; effect of his death, 407. 

"Louis XVII"' (nominal reign, 1793-95), 
417 n. 

Louis XVIII (1814-24), 396 «., 448, 449, 
458 n., 459- 

Louis Philippe (1830-48), 461, 463-464, 
466-467. 

Louis the German (843-876), 62, 64; share 
in division of land, 65. 

Louis the Pious, Emperor (814-840), 61. 

Louvois, War Minister to Louis XIV, 315. 

Loyola, St. Ignatius de, founder of Jesuit 
Order, 240. 

Liibeck, city-state of, 219. 

Luneville, Peace of (1801), 429. 

Luther, Martin (1483-1546), German re- 
former, earby career, 230-231; Theses of, 
231-232 ; summoned before Cajetanus 
(1518), 232-233; disputation at Leipzig 
(1519), 233; at Worms (1521), 234-235; 
at Wartburg (1521-22), 235-236; mar- 
riage of (1525), 236 ».; death of, 236; 
Zwingli compared with, 239. 

Lutheranism in England, 242, 243. 

Lutzen, battle of (1632), 305. 

Luxembourg, Duchy of, 500. 

Lyons, Council of (1245), 162; uprising 
against the Jacobins, 413. 

Mack, Austrian general, 433. 

MacMahon, French general (1870), 503. 

Magdeburg, captured (1631), 304. 

Magellan, navigator, 226. 

Magenta, battle of (1859), 484-485. 

Magna Charta, 120-121. 

Magyars (Hungarians), 73; description of, 



74; defeated by Henry the Fowler, 74; 
defeated by Otto I, 75; revolution of 

Austria-Hungary, 470-471. 
I Marches (Marks), mediaeval, definition of, 

54 n. 
1 Marco Polo, Italian explorer, 225. 
I Marengo, battle of (1800), 428. 
Maria Louisa, wife of Napoleon, 446 n. 
Maria Theresa of Austria (1740-80), 350- 

351; war with Prussia, 352-354; division 

of Poland, 356. 
Marie x\ntoinette, Queen of France, 357, 

396, 396 n., 398 n., 401, 403; death of, 
I 411- 
Markgrafs (counts of frontiers), 58. 
Marlborough, Duke of, English general, 
: 318. 
Marston Moor, battle of (1644') , 291. 
Marseillaise, the (French National hymn), 

404. 
Martin \ , Pope (1417-31), 199. 
j Marx, Karl (1818-83), 558. 
i Mary, Queen of England (1553-58), 250- 

252. 
Mary, Queen of Scots (lived 1542-87), 

252, 260-261; execution of, 266. 
Mathias, German Emperor (1612-19), 300. 
Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England, 

119. 
Maurice, Elector of Saxony, 237-238. 
Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, 300-301, 

302. 
i Maximilian, German Emperor (1493-1519), 

218. 
Maximum, law of (French Revolution), 

409-410. 
Mainz, Archbishop of, his connection with 

the sale of indulgences, 231 n. 
Mayors of the Palace (Frankish kingdom), 

43-44- 
Mazarin, Cardinal, French statesman, 310, 

311 n. 
Mazzini, Italian patriot (1805-72), 463. 
Mecca, holy city of Mohammed, 31; capi- 
tal of Arabian Empire, 32. 
Mediaeval view of life, 205-206. 
Medical science in the Middle Ages, 134 n. 
Mendicant Orders of Friars, 166 n. 
Merovingian dynasty (Frankish), 43. 
Methodist Church, founding of, 362. 
Metternich (1773-1859), Austrian Prime 

Minister, 446, 447, 454, 456, 457-458, 

461, 468, 469. 
Metz, capitulation of (1870), 504. 
Mexico, invaded by Napoleon III, 478. 
Michael Angelo, Italian artist, 211, 229 n. 
Milan, destroyed by Frederick I (1162), 

160; rebuilt, 160 ».; city-state of, 206 n.; 

decree of (1806-07), 44 1 - 
Military system (general), since 1789, 557. 
Mirabeau, French revolutionary statesman, 

395- 



XXIV 



INDEX 



Missi dominici, of Charlemagne, 58. 

Modena, city-state of, 206. 

Mohammed, Arabian prophet, 29-30. 

Mohammed II, Turkish sultan, 223-224. 

Mohammed V, 542-544. 

Mohammedanism, doctrines of, 30-32. 

Mohammedans, learning of, 35-36; threat- 
ened Gaul 7211, 45; divisions among, 
during First Crusade, 101; expelled from 
Spain, 221-222. 

Monasteries, dissolution of, in England, 246. 

Monasticism, rise of, 25-28. 

Monk, English general, 296. 

Monk, life of, 25, 136. 

Monmouth, Duke of (English), 326. 

Monroe Doctrine, 458 n. 

Montenegro, 541. 544. 

Montfort. Simon de, mediaeval warrior, 121. 

More, Sir Thomas, English statesman and 
author, 245-246. 

Moreau, French general, 428. 

Moscow, campaign of (1812), 444. 

Municipal Reform Act (England, 1835), 
512. 

Mutiny Act (England, 1689), 331. 

Nana Sahib, rebel leader in Sepoy Rebel- 
lion, 516. 

Napoleon (reign of, 1804-14', 41S, 420- 

436, 438-452. 454- 
Napoleon II. 446 >/., 474 >i. 
Napoleon III (Louis; reign, 1S52-70), 472, 

473-478; intervention in Italy 1 1859 '. 4N3- 

489; war with Germany, 499-503; death 

of, 503 n. 
Nantes, Edict of (1598), 270, 310 ».; repeal 

of, 315- 

Narva, battle of (1700), 339. 

Naseby, battle of (1645), 291. 

National Assembly ( France), 394, 396, 398, 
399-401, 402. 

National Defense Government of France, 
503, 504- 

National Guards (France), 397. 

Nationality, new consciousness of (gen- 
eral), 555. 

Navarino, battle of (1827), 458 n. 

Navarre, kingdom of, 222 n. 

Necker, French financier, 391, 393; dis- 
missal of, 396. 

Nelson, Admiral (1758-1805), 424, 426. 

Nepotism, in Church, 197 n. 

Netherlands, the cities of, 148; condition of, 
in time of Philip II, 261 ; independence of, 
265; formation of the Kingdom of (1815), 
455- 

Neustria (West Frankland), 64; end of, 
82, 83. 

New Learning, at end of Middle Ages, 209- 
210- 

New Zealand, settlement of, 370. 

Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727), 378. 



Ney, Marshal of France, 449. 

Nicaea, Council of (325), 22. 

Nicholas I of Russia (1825-55) his attitude 
toward Turkev, 540. 

Nicholas II (1894—), 538. 

Nicholas V, Pope (1447-55. 202. 

Nile, battle of the (1798), 426 n. 

Noblesse, French, 381-382, 3S9. 

Nonconformists, English, ^it, n.\ 376 n. 

Norman Conquest of England (1066), 113- 
ii5- 

Normandy, founding of Duchy of, 62-63; 
lost to England, 119. 

Normans, fusion with Saxons in England, 
124-125. 

North German Confederation, 498. 

Northmen (Scandinavians), in Gaul, 62- 
63; 74; attack on Pari- [885), 82; inva- 
sion of England. 111-112. 

Northumberland, Duke of, English politi- 
cian, 248. 

Novara, battle of (1849), 472. 

O'Connell, Daniel, Irish leader, 519. 
Odo (or Eudes), Count of Paris, 82. 
• Odo, Duke of Aquitaine, 45. 
Odoacer, deposed Romulus Augustulus 

1476), 14. 
Olmiitz, Conference at (1850), 492. 
Old Regime in France, 379-387, 459. 
Olliver, Prime Minister of France (1870), 

502. 
Ommiad Dynasty of the Arabs, 32, 33. 
Ordeal, description of, 8; in England, 122. 
Orleans, Duke of (French Regent 1, 349. 
Orleans Monarchy (France), 463-464, 467. 
Orleans, siege of (1429), 177. 
Orsini, Italian conspirator, 483-484. 
Ostrogoth-, 5; enslaved by the Huns (350), 

10; in Italy, blotted out by Justinian, 16. 
Otto I, German Emperor (936-973), his 

power in Germany, 75; his revival of the 

Holy Roman Empire, 75-78. 
Otto II, 78. 
Otto III, 78. 
Otto IV, 89, 161. 

Oxenstierne, Chancellor of Sweden, 306 n. 
Oxford, University of, 213. 

Palace School of Charlemagne, 58. 

Panama Canal Company (French), 526. 

Papacy, rise of, 23-24; condition of, in 10th 
century, 75; claimants (1046), 79; leader- 
ship in crusades, 94; domination of, by 
Henry III, 153; supremacy of, as formu- 
lated by Innocent III, 161; final era of 
mediaeval, 201-202; relations of Louis 
NIY with, 314 ».; temporal power since 
1870, 489 n. 

Papal Court, corruptions during time of 
Babylonian captivity, 197 «.; condition 
in 16th century. 



IXDEX 



XXV 



Paris, Commune of, in 1792, 405;' in 1871, 
505 n., 524; Congress of (1856 . 483; 
Peace of (1856), 540; siege of (1870-71), 
503-504; University of (mediaeval), 204, 
213- 

Parliament Act (England, 1909), 535. 

Parliament of England, make-up of,i2i n.; 
Model, 122 1 under James I, 277; first 
three under Charles I, 279-280; Short 
(1640), 285; Long (1640-60), 285-294, 
296; Rump (1649-53), 294-295: alliance 
with Scots (1643), 291; under William III 
331-332; unreformed, 507-509. 

Parliament of Paris (French High Court), 
91, 313, 380-381. 

Parnell, Irish leader for Home Rule, 520. 

Parr, Catherine, wife of Henry VIII, 243 n. 

Patrician, title given Charlemagne, 53. 

Pavia, capital of Lombard kingdom, 16. 

Peace Conference, First Hague, 547. 

Peasants, general condition about 1000, 
141-144;' revolt of, in England (1381), 
184, 186-187; revolt of, in Germany 
(1524-25), 236; French, 383-384, 389- 

Peel, Sir Robert, English statesman, 514- 

5*5- 

Pepin, crowned king of the Franks (752), 
46; descent into Italy, 47. 

Pepin of Heristal, Frankish mayor of the 
palace, 44 n. 

Pepin the Short, Frankish king (741-68), 
45-46. 

Peter the Great, Russian czar (1689-1725), 
338-339- 

Peter the Hermit, preaches crusade, 95. 

Petition of Right (England, 1628), 279-280. 

Petrarch (1302-74), Italian poet and 
scholar, 207-208, 209. 

Philip I of France (1052-1108), 86. 

Philip IV of France (1285-1314), his con- 
flict with Boniface VIII, 195-196; se- 
cures withdrawal of Papal Court from 
Rome, 197. 

Philip II of Spain (1555-98), 253-257; his 
marriage with Mary of England, 251, 
252; his war with England, 266-268; re- 
volt of the Netherlands, 261-265; rela- 
tions with France, 270; death of, 270. 

Philip V of Spain (1700-46), 317, 318. 

Philip Augustus of France (1180-1223), 
87-89, 119, 120; leader in the Third Cru- 
sade, 103. 

Philip of Valois, claimant for French 
throne, 169; VI of France (1328-50), 170. 

Pisa, Council of (1409), 199; relation of the | 
University of Paris to, 204. 

Pitt, William ("The Elder"), Lord Chat- 
ham (1708-78), English statesman, 375. 

Pitt, William (1 759-1 806), English states- 
man, 353 »., 375. 

Pius VII, Pope, 438 n. 

Pius IX, Pope (1846-1878), 471, 480, 4S8. 1 



Plassey, battle of (1757), 369. 

Podesta, Italian magistrate, 146. 

Poitiers, battle of (1356), 172. 

Poland, divisions of, 340, 355-357; in Con- 
gress of Vienna (1814-15), 456. 

Pollentia, battle of (402), 11. 

Poltava, battle of (1709), 339. 

Pompadour, Madame de, favorite of Louis 
XV, 350, 353- 

Pope, election of, 155. 

Pope, Alexander, English poet, 362. 

Portugal, kingdom of, 222. 

Pragmatic Sanction, 350. 

Prague, Peace of (1866), 497. 

Presbyterianism in England, 292. 

Pressburg, Peace of, 433 . 

Preston, battle of (1648), 293. 

Pride's Purge, Great Civil War (England), 

?94- 

Pnest, definition of, 20; parish, 136. 

Prime Minister (English), description of, 
374 «• . 

Primogeniture, principle of, 381 n. 

Printing, invention of, 212-213. 

Private warfare, 131. 

Protectorate (England), 295-296. 

Protestantism, origin of the name (Ger- 
many), 237; in England, under Henry 
VIII, 246-248; under Edward VI, 248- 
249; under Elizabeth, 258-259; under 
James I, 274-275; in France, 268-269; 
in Germany after 1600, 299 «.; growth 
of, in Netherlands, 261 ; in Scandinavia, 

239- 

Prussia, Kingdom of, origin of, 343-346; 
war with France (1792-95), 404, 407- 
408; war with France (1806-07), 434~ 
436; the regeneration of, 442-444; upris- 
ing against Napoleon (1813), 445-446; 
treatment at Congress of Vienna (1814- 
15), 456-457; joins Holy Alliance (1815), 
457; constituent assembly proclaimed 
(1848), 469; after 1848, 491-499. See 
also Germany. 

Prynne, William, English Puritan, 282. 

Puritans (English religious party), 274; 

migration of, 280 ».; opposition to 

Charles I, 281; persecution under 

Charles II, 323-324. 

i Pym, John, English statesman, 286, 289 n. 

Railroads, general effect of their use on in- 
dustry, 554-555- 

Raleigh, Sir W alter, English statesman and 
navigator, 259 n., 276. 

Ramillies, battle of (1706), 318. 

Raphael, Italian artist, 211, 229 n. 

Raymond, Count of Toulouse, leader in the 
First Crusade, 97. 

Reform Act (England), the first (1832), 
509-511; the second (1867), 516-517; 
the third (1884), 519. 



XXVI 



INDEX 



Reformation, the, in Germany, 229-238; 
in Switzerland, 238-240; in England, 
242-253; in Holland, 261; in France, 
268-269; in Scotland, 260. 

Reichstag (Germany), 498. 

Reign of Terror (French Revolution), 390, 
410-416. 

Remigius, St., Bishop of Rheims, 41. 

Renaissance, the, 204-214. 

Rheims, St. Remigius, Bishop of, 41; Arch- 
bishop of, 84. 

Richard I of England (1189-99), 88, 103, 
119. 

Richard II (1377-99), 186. 

Richard III (1483-85), 188-189. 

Richelieu, Cardinal (1585-1642), French 
statesman, 306, 310 n. 

Right of the Dove-Cots (18th century, 
France), 382. 

Ritters (Germany), feudal holding, 219. 

Robert of Normandy, leader in the First 
Crusade, 97. 

Robespierre (French revolutionist), 405, 
411,414-416. 

Rohan, Cardinal de (France), 387. 

Roland of Britanny, Count, 54. 

Rollo (Norse chieftain), his treaty with 
Charles the Simple. 03. 

Roman Empire, extent of, 1 ; government 
of, 3; taxation in, 3; army of, 3; slavery 
in, 3; final division of (395), n ; results 
of German invasions into, 13. 

Roman Republic (1848), 471. 

Rome, population of, in time of Roman 
Empire, 2 ;/.; sacked by Yir-i.u'oths, 11; 
early Bishops of (Popes), 23: Charle- 
magne at, 52, 53, 55 »., 56; Otto I 
marches to, 75-77; mob at, cause of 
Great Schism, 197; center of a "Repub- 
lic" (1848-49), 470-471; seized by Ital- 
ian Government, 488-489. 

Romulus Augustulus, deposition of (476), 
14. 

Roncesvalles, retreat through (778), 54. 

Rossbach, battle of (1757), 353. 

Roumania, 541, 546. 

Roundheads (English Puritans), 291 n. 

Rousseau (1712-78), Franco-Swiss author, 
388-389. 

Royal Session (French Revolution), 395. 

Rudolf of Hapsburg (1273-91), 217^. 

Runnymede, conference at (1215), 120. 

Rupert, Prince (nephew of Charles I of 
England), 291. 

Russell, Lord John, English statesman, 515. 

Russia, growth of, 335-340; war with 
France (1812), 444; joins Holy Alliance 
(1815), 457; its part in the Austrian Re- 
volution (1848), 471; the evolution of, 
537-539; Crimean War (1854-56), 540; 
war with Turkey (1877), 540. 

Ryswick, Treaty of, 316-317. 



Sadowa, battle of (1866), 497 n. 

St. Bartholomew's Day, Massacre of 
French Huguenots, on, 269. 

St. Helena, Napoleon at, 451. 

St. Peter, church of, 211. 

St. Sophia, church of, 227. 

Saladin, Mohammedan leader in the Third 
Crusade, 102-103. 

Salerno, University of, 204. 

Salic law (France), 169. 

Salisbury, Lord, English statesman, 521. 

Salisbury Oath (England), 117. 

San Stefano, Treaty of, 541. 

Saracens, use of, in army of Frederick II, 
162 n. See also Arabs. 

Saxons, their invasion of England, 108- 
109; their kingdoms in England, 110- 
iii ; their fusions with the Normans in 
England, 124-125. 

Saxony, Charlemagne's wars against, 51- 
52; stem-duchy of, 71, 72; Henry the 
Fowler, Duke of, 74; condition of, in 
1500, 219. 

Scandinavia, Protestantism in, 239. 

Scharnhorst, Prussian War Minister, 443. 

Schism, the Great, in the church (1378- 
1415), 197-199; relation of the Univer- 
sity of Paris to, 204. 

Schleswig-Holstein question, 494, 497. 

Schmalkaldic League (1531), German Re- 
formation, 237. 

Scholastic learning, 205. 

Schurz, Carl (German Liberal), 470. 
j Scotland, conditions in the time of Edward 
I of England, 181-182; effect of struggle 
with England, [83; Reformation in, 260- 
261; union with England, 332. 

Scots, revolt of (1637), 282-283, 285; their 
part in English Civil War, 292, 293, 294. 

Sedan, battle of (1870), 503. 

Sedgemoor, battle of (1685), 326. 

Senlac, battle of (1066), 115 n. 

Sepoy Mutiny (India, 1857-58), 515-516. 

Servetus burned at Geneva, 239. 

Servia, conquest by Turks, 223, 224; war 
with Turkey (1876), 540; became inde- 
pendent (1878), 541; war with Bulgaria 
(1885), 542; Balkan War, 544~546. 

Settlement, Act of (England), 332. 

Sevastopol, siege of (1854-55), 54° «• 

Seven Years' War (1756-63), 353-354- 

Seymour, Jane, wife of Henry VIII, 243 n., 

245- 
Shakespeare, English poet, 271. 
Ship-money (English import), 281, 288. 
Sieyes, Abbe" I French Liberal), 393, 428 n. 
Simony, reform of, in the Church, 153. _ 
Slavery, in the Roman Empire, 3; abolition 

of, in British colonies, 512. 
Sobieski, John, King of Poland, saves 

Vienna, 317. 
Social Contract, The, by Rousseau, 388-389. 



INDEX 



XXVll 



Socialism, in France, 467-468; in Ger- 
many, 529; in general, 558-559. 

Solferino, battle of (1859), 485. 

Soliman the Magnificent, Turkish Sultan, 
224. 

Somerset, Duke of, English politician, 248. 

Spain, invasion of, by the Visigoths, 12; by 
Charlemagne, 54; beginnings of the king- 
dom of, 221-223; under Philip II, 256, 
271 ; relations with England under James 
I, 276-277; condition at close of Thirty 
Years' War, 311; wars of Louis XIV 
against, 315-318; war with France 
(1808), 441-442; in Congress of Vienna 
(1814-15), 456; revolution in (1870), 
500-501. 

Spanish Succession, War of (1701-13), 317- 
318. 

Spenser, English poet, 271. 

Spinning-jenny, the invention of, 366. 

Spires, Diet of, 237. 

Squire (feudal), 128-129. 

Stadtholder (Netherlands), 265. 

Stahremberg, Count, Austrian general, 317. 

Star Chamber (England), 189, 282, 288. 

States General (France), history of, 391- 
392; of 1789, summoning of, 391; elec- 
tion to, 392; meeting of, 393-396. 

Steam engine, invention of, 366. 

Steamboats, general effect of their use on 
industry, 554. 

Stein, German statesman, 443. 

Stem-duchies (Germany), description of, 
7i- 

Stephen, King of England (1135-54), 118- 
119. 

Stephen II, Pope, 47. 

Stilicho, Prime Minister to Honorius, 11 n. 

Strafford, Earl of, trial of, 286-288. See 
also Wentworth, Sir Thomas. 

Sub-infeudation, 131. 

Suez Canal, 518. 

Supremacy, Act of (England, 1534), 245. 

Sutri, Synod at (1046), 79. 

Suzerain (feudal), 66; relation to his vas- 
sals, 130-131. 

Swabia (Germany), 71, 74. 

Sweden, in Congress of Vienna (1814-15), 
456. 

Swiss Cantons, 239 n. 

Taille (French tax), 384. 

Tartar hordes in Russia, 335-336. 

Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, 53. 

Taxation, under German Empire, 219; in 

France previous to 1789, 384-385; mod- 
_ ern - 557-558. 
Tennis-court oath (French Revolution), 

395- 
Test Act (England, 1673), 324. 
Tetzel, John, seller of indulgences, 231-232. 
Teutonic Order of knights, 342. 



Tewkesbury, battle of (1471), 188. 
Theodosius, Roman Emperor (379-95), II. 
Theodoric, reign in Italy (493-526), 14. 
Third Estate (France), 392, 393, 394-395- 
Thirty Years' War (1618-48), 299-308. 
Thuringia (Germany), 71, 72, 74. 
Tilly, German Catholic general, 304, 305. 
Tilsit, Peace of, 436. 
Torstenson, Swedish general, 306 n. 
Tory party (England), 326, 332, 374, 511. 

See Conservative party. 
Tournaments, mediaeval, 129. 
Tours, battle of (732), 44-45. 
Towns, rise of, 144-145; charters granted 
to, 144, 145; mediaeval government of, 
145-146; description of, 146-147; effect 
of the crusades on the growth of, 105; 
growth of in England, 253 n., 365, 367. 
Trafalgar, battle of (1806), 433. 
Transubstantiation, 184 n. 
Trent, Council of, 240. 
Triple Alliance, 532-534. 
Truce of God, 131. 
Turenne, French general, 316. 
Turgot, French statesman, 358. 
Turks, a cause of the crusades, 94; in Eu- 
rope, 223; siege of Vienna by (1683), 317; 
war with Russia (1876-78), 518-519, 541 ; 
war with Italy (1911-12), 531 n., 544; 
decay of, 539-544. 
Tyler, Wat (England), 186 ». . 
Tyndale, William, translator of the English 
Bible, 247 n. 

Ulfilas, Gothic Christian, his missionary 
work, 7. 

Ulm, surrender of (1805), 433. 

Unam Sanctam (papal bull), 196 n. 

United States, its opposition to the Holy 
Alliance (1815), 458; an example of de- 
mocracy, 551-552. 

Universities, origin of mediaeval, 204; Ger- 
man, 213. 

Unstrut, battle of (933), 74. 

Urban II, Pope (1088-99), 95- 

Urban VI, Pope (1378-89), 198. 

Urbino, city-state of, 206 n. 

Utopia, by Sir Thomas More, 246 n. 

Utrecht, Peace of (1713), 318. 

Valens, Emperor of the Eastern Provinces 

(375), 10, 11. 
Valmy, battle of (1792), 407. 
Vandals, in Africa, 13; succumb before 

Justinian, 16. 
Vane, Sir Harry, English statesman, 286. 
Varennes, flight of Louis XVI to, 401-402. 
Vasco da Gama, Portuguese navigator, 226. 
Vassal (feudal), 66; relation to his suzerain, 

130-13 1. 
Vatican (Papal residence at Rome), 197, 

489 n. 



XXVU1 



INDEX 



Venice, its mediaeval trade, 101 ; city-state 
of, 148; leadership in the revival of com- 
merce, 206; how treated in the Treaty of 
Campo Formio (1797), 424; Republic of 
(1848), 471, 472. 

Verdun, Treaty of (843), 62, 64-65. 

Verona, city-state of, 206 n. 

Versailles, palace of Louis XIV at, 313- 

314- 

Virtue, meaning of word in the Renaissance 

period, 209. 
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, 472, 472 «.. 

482-489; death of, 531. 
Victor Emmanuel III, 531. 
Victoria, Queen of England (1837-1901), 

512-513; death of, 522. 
Victorian Age, 513-514. 
Vienna, attacked by the Turks (1529), 224; 

siege of (1683), 317; Congress of (1814- 

15), 454-457- 
Villafranca, Peace of (1859), 485. 
Villeins (mediaeval serfs), 67, 142 n. 
Villeneuve, French admiral, 433. 
Visigoths (Germanic tribe), 5; driven south- 
ward by the Huns, 10; sack Rome (410), 

11; settle in Spain, 12; destroyed by the 

Arabs, 33. 
Voltaire (French philosopher, 1694-1778), 

379. 388. 
Von Moltke, German general, 494, 495, 

497. 501, 502. 

Wager by battle, 8, 122. 

Wagram, battle of (1809), 442. 

Wales, holds out against the Saxons, 109; 
brought under English supremacy by 
Edward I, 181. 

Wallace, William, Scottish patriot, 182. 

Wallenstein, Albert von (Bohemian gen- 
eral), 301, 302, 305. 

Walpole, English statesman. 375. 

Walsingham, Sir Francis, English states- 
man, 257. 

Wars of the Roses (1455-85), 188-189. 

Waterloo, battle of (1815), 451. 

Watt, James, English inventor, 366, 378. 

Wellesley, Sir Arthur, English general, 442. 

Wellington, Duke of, 451; Prime Minister 



of England, 509-510, 511. See also Wel- 
lesley, Sir Arthur. 

Welsh Church, bill for the disestablish- 
ment of, 535. 

Wentworth, Sir Thomas (after 1639, Earl 
of Strafford), English statesman, 282. 

Wesley, John (1703-91), English religious 
leader, 362. 
j West India Islands, annexation by Eng- 
land, 370. 

Whig party (England), 326, 332, 374, 510. 

White Hill, battle of (1620), 301. 

Whitney, Eli, American inventor, 367. 

Wiclif, English Church reformer, 184; re- 
lation of Hus to, 200. 

William I of England (1066-87), 86, 113- 
117. 

William II of England (1087-1100), 117. 

William III of England (1689-1702), 330, 

331. 

William IV of England (1830-37), 507, 509. 
William I of Prussia (1861-88), 493-505, 

528. 
William II of Prussia (1888—), 528-529. 
William of Orange, 316; in England, 329. 
William the Silent, Dutch liberator (1533- 

84), 262-265. 
Witan, Anglo-Saxon great Council, 114. 
Wittekind, Saxon leader (785), 52. 
W r olsey, Cardinal, English statesman, 243, 

244. 
W r omen, under feudal conditions, 130. 
Worcester, battle of (1651), 294. 
Worms, Concordat of, 158. 
Worms, scene of trial of Luther, 234-235; 

edict against Luther, 237. 
Worth, battle of (1870), 503. 

Xeres, battle of (711), 43~44- 

Yeoman archers (English), 169. 

"Young Turks" (Turkish party), 542, 544- 

Ypres, in 15th century, 147. 

Zalacca, battle of (1087), 94. 

Zollverein (German "customs union"), 

462 n. 
Zwingli, Swiss reformer (1484-1531), 239. 



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